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War news round-up: Russians have also sought refuge in Norway

NOTE TO READERS: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has had enormous consequences for the rest of Europe, also for Norway. The following rundown offers various reports about how Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the far north, is directly affected and how it’s responding to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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UKRAINIANS FORCED TO FLEE RUSSIA’S WAR aren’t the only refugees showing up in Norway. More young Russian men have also been arriving to seek political asylum after fleeing the draft and ethnic persecution especially in the north.

Among them has been Sámi activist Andrej Danilov, who’s been a champion of indigenous peoples’ rights in a Russian regime known for repressing them. Newspaper Klassekampen reports that after fighting for Sámi rights and against environmental destruction for years, Danilov felt the pressure on him rising. He crossed the border to Norway two days after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Norway’s border to Russia has taken on new significance since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, and many Russians have crossed it. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst

He’s still waiting in a refugee center in Vesterålen for a decision on his case. Last week he returned to the border area around Kirkenes to share his story with international journalists. “I’m not leaving my historic roots,” he told Klassekampen, “but I left Russia.” He claims Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime wants a homogenous population, not various ethnic groups, and he’d already been arrested once.

He’s far from alone, although many of the young Russian men crossing into Norway so far were motivated mainly by a desire not to serve or be killed in Putin’s war after Putin began ordering them into the military. Many have since moved on to other European countries, while newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) has editorialized that Russian academics fleeing Putin should be welcomed in Norway and encouraged to stay. Others also have referred to the Russian brain drain as a potential resource for Norway. More than 300,000 Russians are estimated to have left Russia just during the first few months after the war began.

Various Russians already in Norway have joined some of the demonstrations against the war in Oslo. “It’s so important to show our people and Ukrainians that we don’t support this war,” one Russian man who asked not to be identified told newspaper Aftenposten during a demonstration earlier this month. “Russians shouldn’t be lumped together with Putin and his war.”

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Even though the Norwegian government has been an active donor of both humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, opposition politicians in Parliament aren’t convinced Norway has helped as much as it could. They’ve banded together to open the first probe of goverment operations since it took office last autumn,.

The probe won’t involved hearings, reports newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN), but it will demand answers to questions about whether, for example, wounded Ukrainian soldiers have received the help they were promised.

“Some don’t think we should be launching a ‘control’ case while there’s a war in Europe,” said Peter Frølich, a Member of Parliament from the Conservatives who leads the parliament’s disciplinary committee, “but that’s exactly what we must do. It’s important that the parliament maintains control, especially regarding foreign policy.”

The committee is especially concerned that Norway didn’t take in any wounded soldiers during two periods of several weeks in the spring and summer, even though they were asked to help care for them by Ukrainian officials. Opposition politicians also want more information on how Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has handled the war, how his government has used its time, and who is responsible for what.

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Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre addressed Parliament in late October, to again stress his government’s commitment to Ukraine and call on Parliament to remain steadfast in its support, too. He thinks Russia is now “steering towards a long-lasting break-up” with western democracies.

“But an isolated Russia is bad news,” said Støre, a former foreign minister best known for his diplomatic skills and penchant for dialogue among national leaders. He hasn’t spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since their last phone conversation in April, and called it “alarming” that there is “so little contact and direct communication with Russia.” He said he thinks Putin is “taking a high risk” in cutting ties with the rest of Europe, and suffering from “weak leadership, poor logistics, outdated military equipment and low morale among soldiers,” yet escalating its “brutal warfare.”

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre addressing Parliament on Tuesday, on Norway’s support for Ukraine. PHOTO: Stortinget/Peter Mydske

He also warned of a “tough winter” ahead, since the war has also set off an energy crisis and high inflation. “The war’s brutality and destructive dymanics are putting us to the test,” Støre said. “We must be prepared for the unexpected, for more uncertainty, for more instability.” But he hailed Ukraine’s resilience and “outstanding willingness to fight against the invasion,” a fight made possible by the support Ukraine is receiving from nations around the world.

Norway’s own support in the form of both defense equipment, weapons and humanitarian aid will continue, Støre said. Russia is likely to continue pressuring, even threatening, Norway and other countries, “with the goal that we will give up our support for Ukraine and look in another direction. Let me be completely clear: That’s not going to happen.”

The prime minister thinks Ukraine will need massive military and economic support for a long time. Norway has already increased its support by NOK 10 billion this year and next. In addition comes NOK 2 billion in humanitarian aid. “We will contribute NOK 2 billion for the purchase of gas so Ukraine has energy through the winter. We are evaluating how we can contribute to repairs of the power plants Russia has damaged,” he added, and arranging operating support via the World Bank so that Ukrainian authorities can maintain core functions.

Contributing to ‘a new Marshall Plan’
The reconstruction of Ukraine, Støre said, will take on “historic dimensions” in the form of what many already are calling “a new Marshall Plan” like that set up by the US after World War II. “We are prepared that it will demand new contributions from Norway,” Støre said, “and we will come back to Parliament” with a more detailed funding proposal.

Public support for Ukraine remains high in Norway, with some calling it “Norway’s best defense strategy.” Fully 87 percent of Norwegians questioned in a recent survey indicated that their support was not affected by the soaring electricity rates and grocery prices they’re also facing. The survey, conducted by research firm Respons Analyse for the think tank Agenda, indicated that two-thirds of Norwegians also support sending weapons to Ukraine.

The public support spanned all age groups and political affiliations, and that’s good news for Støre’s agenda. Parliament is likely to go along with additional funding proposals, also to take in as many as 70,000 Ukrainian refugees. More than 30,000 have already arrived in Norway, with at least as many expected in the year ahead.

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A top researcher at Norway’s Institute for Defense Studies doesn’t go along with recent predictions that Russia’s war on Ukraine will drag on for years to come. Lt Col Bjørn Aksel Sund at the Institutt for Forsvarsstudie thinks Russia faces a lack of resources and no lack of challenges, both of which seriously threaten its president’s war capabilities.

The challenges, Sund wrote in a commentary in newspaper Aftenposten this week, “range from tactical to geostrategic.” Russian troops are already exhausted, while Russian President Vladmir Putin’s recent mobilization of reinforcements is plagued by a lack of troop motivation and training. “The danger of a collapse is real,” Sund wrote, not least because of a lack of officers. Many have been killed or disillusioned, while Russian troops, he claims, are also unprepared for another round of winter warfare.

Russian stores of ammunition, artillery and tanks are also waning, outdated and lack advanced technology. Putin’s war is also costing enormous amounts of money, while signs are rising of a lack of public support. Many young Russian men have fled their homeland, to avoid being drafted into the army. “It’s often claimed that the Russians historically have been good at enduring suffering, especially when at war,” Sund wrote, “but will that also apply in a war that steadily fewer support, that more people are running away from and that more think will be lost? I doubt it.”

Then there’s “the ticking time bomb” of Belarus, which isn’t likely to be able to contribute motivated troops either, according to Sund. Most people in Belarus are western-oriented and support Ukraine, he writes, while Putin may not be able to keep its dictator Alexander Lukasjenko in power much longer.

Finally, Russia’s global status has been shattered by Putin’s war, with a vast majority of countries claiming Putin’s regime can never be trusted again. Sund thinks that if China has to choose between the democratic world and Russia, “Putin can wind up with the shortest straw.” Then Russia would be left with no powerful supporters.

“Putin has gambled that (international) support for Ukraine will end, but he’s made a mistake,” Sund concluded. “The west will never allow Russia to win. What will happen when enough people in the Kremlin, in Russia’s defense leadership and its security forces realize that?

“There are many reason to doubt that Russia can endure a lengthy war.”

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Norway was quick to condemn Russian attacks on several Ukrainian cities on Monday (Oct 10). Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed that “attacks against civilians are illegal and may constitute war crimes.”

Huitfeldt, who’s in the US early this week for a special UN Security Council session, claimed that those responsible for missile attacks on cities including the capital of Kyiv must be held accountable. “I strongly condemn Russia’s massive missile strikes against Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Huitfeldt said in a statement released by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

She added that “Norway will continue to support Ukraine,” most recently by joining Denmark and Germany in purchasing more weapons for Ukraine directly from the defense industry in Slovakia, and then donating them to Ukraine.

“That’s what they have the most need for in the defense against Russia,” Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram told TV2 last week.

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Russia’s multiple air strikes on Monday cost lives and halted aid to Ukrainian citizens, reported the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which has been in Ukraine for months trying to help civilians. NRC’s secretary general, Jan Egeland, claimed that ordinary people “are paying the highest price for this war” once again.

“We are shocked by the reports from our aid workers on the ground about the attacks across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil and Dnipro,” Egeland said. “Thousands of civilians were on their way to work and school when the attacks took place, leading to injuries and loss of life.”

NRC has staff and operations in several of the cities that were targeted, “and we have halted operations until it is safe to resume,” Egeland said.

It was the first attack on the Ukrainian capital in several months. It comes just after explosions badly damaged the bridge connecting Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, and appeared to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt at revenge, after accusing Ukraine of being behind it.

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Norwegian officers and instructors from Heimevernet (Norway’s Home Guard) have begun preparations abroad to train Ukrainian soldiers in Great Britain. They’ve traveled to the UK, where the Ukrainians will undergo five weeks of what’s been called “Operation Interflex.”

Norwegian and British armed forces are ready to begin training Ukrainian soliders in the UK. PHOTO: Forsvaret

The program involves “fundamental soldier skills” and will begin in mid-October. The Norwegian contribution to the British training program will be led by the Home Guard, but most of those involved are from the Norwegian Army’s rapid reaction team in Brigade Nord.

Norway and Great Britain have long cooperated on joint military exercises. Norwegian instructors will follow a British education program aimed at giving Ukrainian soldier “a lot of knowledge in a limited period of time.” As Russia launched more attacks on Ukrainian cities this week, such training is considered important to maintain the Ukrainian defense forces’ endurance.

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Norway’s large state-controlled oil company Equinor confirmed Sept 2 that it has now completely pulled out of Russia. The withdrawal was initiated after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February, and brings Equinor into compliance with the sanctions imposed against Russia.

Equinor announced that it no longer has any remaining assets or projects in Russia, after signing an agreement to leave the Kharyaga oil field development. The move ends 30 years of doing business in Russia that has included “conventional onshore exploration and production” in Eastern Siberia, on the Domanik formation in the Samar region, on the North-Komsomolskoye oil field in West Siberia and at Kharyaga in the Arctic.

Equinor had done business in Russia for more than 30 years, including investment in this Siberian oil field, but Putin’s war on Ukraine has now ended it all. PHOTO: Equinor ASA/Svein Are Enes

Equinor had announced in May that it would be withdrawing from all four joint venture projects with Russian energy firm Rosneft. It earlier, just three days after the invasion ordered by Putin, had also decided to halt all new investment in Russia and stopped all trading of oil and gas products from Russia. Equinor had also made some social and cultural investments in Russia, including projects to help support reindeer herding and local educational institutions. The withdrawal from Russia resulted in an “impairment” of USD 1.08 billion on Equinor’s balance sheet as of March 31.

Equinor CEO Anders Opedal has stated that “we are all deeply troubled by the invasion of Ukraine, which represents a terrible setback for the world.” He added that “we are all thinking of all those who are suffering because of the military action.”

Opedal noted that Equinor had employees from both Ukraine and Russia, and that he was “proud of how our people from different backgrounds and nationalities” had cooperated with “mutual respect.” Equinor also, of course, needed to comply with the sanctions imposed by the EU and US that Norway also joined in on.

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Another 134 new asylum seekers from Ukraine were registered by Norway’s immigration agency UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet) on Thursday (Sept 1), bringing the total number of new arrivals to 928 during the past week. The stream of refugees from Russia’s war on Ukraine has let up, but several hundred continue to formally apply for asylum. UDI reported that a total of 24,182 registered refugees were in Norway as of Friday.

Ukrainians refugees, meanwhile, haven’t always received the financial assistance to which they’re entitled. Several thousand now in the process of establishing themselves in towns and cities all over the country can expect a bonus payment this autumn.

UDI blamed the lack of initial financial assistance on the large numbers of Ukrainians arriving in Norway last spring, the rushed openings of asylum centers to receive them and a “general lack” of the payment cards refugees should have been issued. UDI officials are now charting who was neglected, with plans to issue them late payments over the next few months.

Individual refugees living in asylum centers without cafeterias are entitled to receive NOK 2,044 a month, reports newspaper Aftenposten. Couples are entitled to NOK 3,287 to help pay for food, while adult refugees in asylum centers where food is served are entitled to an additional NOK 447 each. Various amounts also apply to children and youth arriving alone in Norway.

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It’s being called a “security policy scandal,” but the Norwegian government was still refusing to ban Russian fishing boats from the country’s harbours through September. Norway has been the only country to secure an exemption to international sanctions against Russian vessels and was hanging on to it, despite rising pressure from inside and outside the country.

These two Russian trawlers raised a fuss when they berthed in the northern city of Harstad for repairs in May and to bus their crews to Murmansk. They were reportedly owned by a small shipowning firm not subject to the EU sanctions that Norway otherwise honours. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Norway finally changed its position in early October. See the updated story here.)

The exemption was controversial, with critics  calling it “a big hole in our defense,” especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a doctrine at the end of the summer that seemed to militarize Russia’s fishing fleet. Critics included Members of Parliament from the Liberal Party and the Greens, Ukrainian government officials and researchers from Norway’s own war college (Sjøkrigsskolen).

“This is a security policy scandal,” Liberals leader Guri Melby, a former government minister herself, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) after it had reported that one of those owning Russian vessels that recently have docked in Norwegian harbours is oligarch Vitaly Orlov. Two of his companies have contributed money to Putin’s political party and Putin praised one of Orlov’s vessels in July.

‘Achilles heel’ for Norway
Melby worried that either Norwegian officials “haven’t checked out who owns the trawlers and what consequences this will have if it continues, or the government has known and hasn’t reacted. Either one is bad enough.” Other critics have called the berthings of Russian vessels in Norwegian ports “an Achilles heel” for Norway.

Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl of the Center Party has responded that Norway’s intelligence and security services “make ongoing evaluations of the threats to our society and what risks they represent,” adding that they were constantly following “the activity of Russian fishing vessels along the Norwegian coast to uncover and hinder any threatening activity.” She also claimed that Norway’s security services had boosted their surveillance efforts since Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and that they were in “close cooperation” with the justice ministry.

Norway has long cooperated with Russia on fishing policy and search and rescue issues in the Arctic, and both Norway and Russia have wanted that cooperation to continue despite Putin’s war on Ukraine. Russian fishing boats have therefore continued to berth and even undergo repairs in Norway, despite negative reaction especially from Ukrainian refugees in Norway who’ve seen the large vessels themselves.

Other Russian vessels are banned, but DN reported that Norway had quietly obtained the special exemption for fishing vessels when it joined the EU’s sanctions. It allows Russian trawlers to operate freely in Russian harbours, also despite allegations many are engaged in espionage activities. Mehl stressed that the Parliament had also allocated more than NOK 100 million to strengthen Norway’s surveillance efforts.

Russia also continues to earn well on its fishing activities in the Arctic, and coastal communities in Northern Norway mostly welcome the business the vessels bring. Fisheries Minister Bjørnær Skjæran of the Labour Party denies economic issues are at stake: “This is all about how we handle our fishing stocks, which are fundamental along the coast. Over-fishing can damage stocks and it can take a long time to build them up again. Without fishing activity, our coastal communities could disappear.”

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Norway’s Liberal Party and the Socialist Left (SV) both want to halt all imports from Russia. Norway imported Russian goods valued at nearly NOK 11 billion during the first six months of this year, most of it salmon feed and lard that are not subject to the international sanctions imposed against Russia after its president ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

The Liberals have accused the government of putting economic interests ahead of a boycott of that would hurt business. Other politicians deny that, with MP Christian Tybring-Gjedde of the Progress Party telling newspaper Aftenposten that the fish-feed trade with Russia “must be seen in line with management of fishing resources in the Barents Sea.”

Ukrainian officials disagree, and have called on Norway to stop trading with Russia. “We must not make the same mistakes like in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and we just followed the sanctions and did nothing more,” Ola Elvestuen of the Liberal Party told news bureau NTB. “Now we need to do what we can to support Ukraine.”

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Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram of the Center Party has confirmed that Norway will take part in training Ukrainian soldiers in Great Britain. Norway’s NATO ally has already trained several hundred Ukrainians who lacked military experience in the use of modern weapon systems that can be critical in their fight against Russian invaders.

“The Ukrainian forces have a strong need for further training and education,” Gram stated last week. “Norway is positive to the British initiative to train soldiers in Great Britain. We will participate with instrutors for basic training in cooperation with several other countries.”

Gram, who took part in last week’s donor conference for Ukraine in Copenhagen, said Norway will also  cooperate with Iceland to set up a training project to help rid Ukraine of landmines set out by the Russians. He said Norwegian forces can offer strong competence in mine-clearing operations.

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They’re still at it, nearly half-a-year after Russia invaded Ukraine and led the world into yet another crisis. Pro-Ukrainian demonstrations continue outside the Norwegian Parliament and in front of the Russian Embassy in Oslo, even though their numbers are waning.

“The most important thing for us with these everyday demonstrations is to show that we’re not giving up,” Jara Sekala Gudmundsson, a Ukrainian living in Norway told newspaper Dagsavisen after yet another round of protests this summer. “We support Ukraine. This is our way of showing that there is still a war in Ukraine.”

One of the recent demonstrations in support of Ukraine outside the Parliament in Oslo. PHOTO: NewsInEnglish.no/Nina Berglund

Her grandmother survived World War II and refused to leave Ukraine then as now. Other family members living in Kharkiv have fled, however, “because it’s very dangerous there,” Gudmundsson said. She moved to Norway with her husband and daughter nine years ago, even before Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea.

The numbers of those showing up for daily demonstrations had dwindled by mid-July to between 30 and 70 during the week and around 90 on the weekends, but Gudmundsson and others are hoping for and expecting larger participation after the summer holidays. They hail Ukraine, deplore Putin, sing and then close their eyes for a moment of silence in memory of the thousands killed in Putin’s war so far. They’re frustrated that Oslo police keep them away from demonstrating directly in front of the Russian embassy compound, which covers a large area in Oslo’s fashionable Skillebekk area.

“We feel like we’re yelling at the embassy’s neighbour and at Åpent Bakeri (a local bakery and café), and not to the Russian Embassy,” Gudmundsson said. “We hope the police will show some understanding and give us permission to demonstrate at Ukraine’s Square (the newly dubbed intersection adjacent to the embassy).”

A police spokesman blamed the busy street and tram line that run in front of the embassy but said demonstration locations can vary.

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Support for Ukraine and protests against Putin are probably more important than ever, suggests a post-doctoral political scientist at the University of Oslo, since he’s unlikely to give up either. Kristin Ven Bruusgaard wrote in a commentary in newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on Monday (July 25) that Putin’s strategy is to continue his confrontation with Ukraine and the West until he has reached his goal: to control Ukraine and Ukrainians’ future.

Military power hasn’t given Putin the effect he wants, Ven Bruusgaard writes, “therefore we must expect other radical and unscrupulous means in the Kremlin’s crusade against its neighbour and the West.” Putin will put pressure on Europe’s and the US’ willingness to maintain political, economic and military support to Ukraine, she believes, and he’ll do that through cuts in gas supplies to Europe this winter. It will amount to extortion, in the hopes of creating splits in the solidarity with Ukraine so far shown by NATO and the EU.

Norway is already seeing its right-wing Progress Party and district-oriented Center Party call for cuts in electricity exports to Europe in order to reduce Norwegians’ own record-high electricity bills. That’s exactly what Putin wants, suggests Ven Bruusgaard: that support for Ukraine will wane once the price or discomfort for Ukraine’s supporters gets too high.

“Russia has a long history of exploiting its energy exports as a central geopolitical weapon,” she wrote in DN. “Russia has shown its willingness for decades to screw off its gas to Ukraine in shocking examples of political extortion.” She believes “this Russian regime will use this means against Europe for all it’s worth,” and that Putin and his underlings “are sitting and plotting a long and hard winter for Europe.”

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Opposition leader Erna Solberg doesn’t see much if any chance of improving relations with Russia as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power. His order to invade Ukraine last winter changed everything, and she thinks Russia is becoming more totalitarian than it’s ever been.

“We’ll live together with the common challenges we have in the Northern areas, and try to keep tensions as low as possible and cooperate on civilian issues,” Solberg told state broadcaster NRK, “but it’s difficult to think about any political intiatives or economic cooperation together with Putin in power.”

She said it would be up “to others coming in with other ways of thinking,” especially “someone who also can recognize that you don’t carry out foreign policy by invading a neighbouring country. We must have a neighbour who plays by international rules for how you resolve conflicts.”

With Putin, Solberg said, “we’re facing an authoritarian regime that’s beginning to steadily become more totalitarian than anyone has been.”

Solberg dealt with Putin for eight years as prime minister, from 2013 to 2021, and notes that Norwegian relations with Russia have endured crises and scandals but also upturns since the Cold War ended more than 30 years ago. She met Putin several times and she thought like many that he would take Russia in a more liberal, modern direction. Now she thinks she and many others “missed the signs” of how brutal Putin could be, for example in Chechnya, while democracy seemed to emerge in Russia’s big cities. She also noted how Putin said that Russian interests weren’t just within Russia’s borders, but where Russians lived: “He defined security in an entirely different manner than his own border.” Solberg admits that the world should have reacted more strongly when Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, “but that’s hindsight. We didn’t have any political meetings with the Russians for more than two years.”

Russia’s “brutal” attacks on Ukraine have now sent Norway’s ties to Russia down to an historic low point. It may sink even lower as Norway continues to support Ukraine. She thinks Norway and other countries failed to take what Putin saw seriously enough. Now his war on Ukraine “has destroyed so many sides of Norway’s relations to Russia. I think it’s difficult to think that there can get any closer to a country led by Putin or those closest to him, unless there’s some form of international reconciliation … and everyone can see where mistakes were made.”

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Seven human rights organizations are urging more protection for Russian citizens fleeing their homeland. They’re objecting to moves by Norwegian officials to tighten visa rules and entry procedures for Russians in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, because of an increase in those seeking asylum once they arrive in Norway.

Immigration agency UDI (Utlendings direktoratet) has asked the justice ministry to restrict issuance of so-called Schengen visas (which allow free movement within the EU and European Economic Area) to Russian citizens. That’s firmly opposed by the refugee support organization NOAS, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Amnesty International Norge, the Human Rights House Foundation, the Rafto Foundation, Norsk PEN and the human rights commission of the Norwegian Bar Association.

They all note that many lawyers, journalists, authors, artists and opponents of the Russian government have had to leave Russia. They think Norwegian authorities should show more flexibility and allow those persecuted to get a visa. Their friends and loved ones who live in Norway would also suffer if they’re not allowed to enter.

“Norway is at the forefront in protecting human rights advocates,” the organizations’ leaders wrote in a commentary in newspaper Aftenposten. “We must therefore take responsibility nationally and allow them and their families residence.”

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More wounded Ukrainian soldiers are expected to be sent to Norway for medical treatment, and striking SAS pilots have offered dispensation to fly the SAS jets chartered to bring them to Oslo. Some may land first, however, at the national arrival center for refugees in Råde, south of Oslo, for registration since they’re also offered asylum.

Norway is one of eight countries evacuating wounded Ukrainian soldiers, part of efforts to take some of the burden off Ukrainian hospitals. As many as 550 may be flown to Norway in specially outfitted medical evacuation aircraft. In addition to medical treatment they’ll also be offered asylum under the collective protection offered all Ukrainian citizens since Russian President Vladimir Putin started ordering attacks on the country last February.

Norwegian health officials won’t reveal which hospitals in Norway will treat the wounded soldiers, out of consideration for the soldiers’ security.

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Norwegian defense officials have finally confirmed Norway’s “donation” of heavy artillery to Ukraine, along with ammunition. Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram claimed Norwegian officials simply wanted to wait with their own announcement until they were sure Ukrainian forces had received what’s described as a “powerful and potent weapon system from Norway.”

Around 20 of these Norwegian tanks equipped with “powerful and potent weapons systems” are already in action in Ukraine. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Frederik Ringnes

US officials had already announced that Norway was among European countries including Italy, Greece and Poland that were sending more arms to Ukraine. Gram, speaking to Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) from a meeting of Nordic and Baltic defense ministers in Iceland on Wednesday (June 8), noted that Ukrainian forces depend on western support in the form of military material and weapons. “Then they can fend off the Russian attacks,” Gram said.

Norway has sent around 20 M109 tanks equipped with artillery and reserve parts as part of its expansion of weapons support to Ukraine. It means the Ukrainians will have more long-distance fire power in the form of both stationary and mobile canons and missiles. “It’s an important contribution,” Gram said. “This has been strongly requested by Ukrainian officials.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Valerij Zaluznij thanked Norway for the deliveries and said the tanks and weapons are already at the frontline and in use. He said they could hit their targets with great precision and help “destroy the enemy.” Russian officials have responded, meanwhile, that one of the Norwegian tanks had already been destroyed itself. “We can’t say anything concrete about that,” Gram told NRK. “We have to expect, on a general basis, that material sent into battle can also of course be hit by the opponent.”

Norwegian military personnel have also been in Germany where they’ve trained Ukrainian soldiers on the use and maintenance of the tanks and artillery. Defense officials described the training as “a short and effective eduation where the goal was to enable the Ukrainians to operate the systems in a secure and correct manner, regarding both use and maintenance.

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Norway has recently been accused of being “out of step” with NATO over its earlier reluctance to send heavier artillery to Ukraine. Already in late April, commentator Sverre Strandhagen wrote in newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) that most other NATO members realized the time for dialogue with Russia was over, and that Ukraine needed more and better weapons to fend off their Russian invaders.

Norwegian Prime Minister Johas Gahr Støre photographed while speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin in March. Now Norway has gone along with sending heavy artillery to Ukraine, after hopes for dialogue with Russia have withered. PHOTO: Office of the Prime Minister/Kaja Schill Godager

Now, in early June, Ukraine has also received them from Norway (see news item above), which otherwise prefers negotiations when conflicts arise. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his foreign minister have stressed that dialogue must be sought to ward off acts of war, but the horrific photos from areas of Ukraine where the Russians have pulled out made it clear among other NATO members that it’s “no longer possible to have a normal relation” with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, as one NATO source told Strandhagen.

Støre and Norway were thus viewed as being “too slow and careful,” a result of Norway’s history of having relatively good relations with its neighbouring Russia for centuries, also during the Cold War. Strandhagen wrote that could have been a conscious strategy to have the least possible coverage of Norwegian aid to Ukraine, “in order to the least possible degree provoke Russia. Norwegian foreign policy has always been to keep a low profile as a small country, he wrote, but now that’s become increasingly difficult if not impossible.

Støre has, meanwhile, firmly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fully supports Ukraine, often wearing its blue and yellow colours on his jacket lapel. Now Norway needs to realize, as the US and many other NATO members already have, that “this is a war Russia must lose,” Strandhagen wrote.

“Norway has historically managed to handle Russia in a good and balanced manner,” Strandhagen wrote, “but recent years have shown that the Kremlin has moved in a psychopathic and dictatorial direction. Paranoia is evident, along with the position that the West is out to hold Russia back.” That’s what Norway can’t accept either, Strandhagen concluded: “There’s an acute need for new recognition (of Putin’s ruthlessness), and new policy.”

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Norway has reopened its embassy in Kyiv, less than three months after temporarily moving it to Warsaw after Russia first started attacking Urkaine. Ambassador Erik Svedahl says he’s “delighted” to be back in Kyiv, although embassy operations remain limited with minimal staffing for security reasons.

Norway’s ambassador to Ukraine, Erik Svedahl, could welcome Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt to Kyiv last week even before the Norwegian embassy officially reopened this week. Embassy functions, meanwhile, remain limited. PHOTO: Utenriksdepartementet

In the past few days Svedahl has reported on conversations with officials from the World Food Programme, which Norway is supporting financially, and with Steen Norlov, head of the Council of Europe’s office in Ukraine. He and embassy colleagues also posed for photos with the Norwegian flag outside the embassy on the 17th of May, claiming on social media that it was “great to be in Kyiv for Constitution Day!”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt and Parliament President Masud Gharahkhani ovserved Russia’s destruction in Kyiv during a visit to the Ukrainian capital last week. PHOTO: Utenriksdepartementet

Even before the embassy’s partial reopening to the public this week, Svedahl also hosted Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt and Parliament President Masud Gharahkhani when they visited Kyiv last week. The visit was aimed at showing Norway’s “support to the Ukrainian people,” and it included a meeting with embattled Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. The Norwegian delegation thanked Zelensky and his government colleagues, who have remained in Kyiv throughout Russia’s attacks, for their “strength, endurance and hospitality.”

Svedahl stressed on national radio in Norway Thursday morning (May 19) that embassy functions remain limited and that official government travel advice against traveling to Ukraine is still in place. He and the other Norwegian officials have exempted themselves from it.

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While Norway is warmly welcoming Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join NATO this week, opposition politician Guri Melby of the Liberal Party also wants to open up for Georgia’s membership. Melby fears the small country that borders on Russia may be next on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s list of countries he’d like to invade.

Putin’s war on Ukraine, Melby claimed at her party’s recent annual meeting, “has pushed us into a new era in which freedoms we have taken for granted are in danger.” That means Norway needs to keep changing its course, she believes, by strengthening defense capability, doing more to ensure European energy security and considering membership in the EU.

“Georgia can be the next country on the dictator’s list,” said Melby, a former government minister. “I think we must do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen. My message to (Prime Minister) Jonas Gahr Støre is that it’s about time to find a way of getting Georgia into NATO, too.”

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A large Ukrainian transport plane landed at the military portion of Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen early in May, but Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram wouldn’t say why. Gram did repeat earlier claims, though, that Norway would continue to support Ukraine.

Norway didn’t hide its shipments of M72 anti-tank missiles to Ukraine earlier this spring, but now officials won’t talk about why a large Ukrainian transport plane was in Oslo this past week. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Torbjørn Kjosvold

Ukraine still has a great need for defense material and weapons,” Gram told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). “More contributions will come from Norway, but we won’t communicate much around the shipments.” He cited a need for security tied to all the deliveries.

Newspaper Aftenposten had reported that one of the world’s largest cargo planes, a Ukrainian Antonov An-124 had landed at the Oslo airport. It was the second such arrival in as many days.

“I can understand that there’s public interest in this, but I don’t think it’s wise to say anything more … until we are sure the material on board has reached its destination,” Gram said. Norway has already sent protective gear for Ukrainian soldiers and around 2,000 anti-tank weapons, and has been boosting its own defense in Norway.

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NORWEGIAN DEFENSE PERSONNEL ARE IN THE US, to learn how to hunt for Russian submarines in Norway’s offshore territory. They’ll later be working on board Norway’s new P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft, which can help prevent Russia from surrounding Norway and preventing NATO allies from arriving.

Norway is getting five of the new P-8 Poseidons, and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre visited one of them that landed in Norway earlier this year. They use a Boeing 737-800 with a thicker shell and slightly larger wings than Boeing’s commercial passenger version. They’re also full of modern surveillance systems, new anti-submarine weapons and support systems.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre visited one of Norway’s new Poseidon surveillance aircraft while at Evenes in early March, just after Russia invaded Ukraine. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Tiril Haslestad

Newspaper Aftenposten recently visited the Jacksonville Naval Base in Florida where Norwegians are being trained to work on board the Poseidons, listening for and finding submarines that will dive as deeply as possible. The goal is to regularly fly over the Barents Sea and gain control over Russian submarines, and keep Norway’s coastline clear.

The new surveillance aircraft, which is replacing Norway’s old P-3 Orion planes, will be based at a vastly refurbished Evenes Air Base between Harstad and Narvik in Northern Norway. They cost around NOK 11 billion (USD 1.2 billion) each, but Russia’s war on Ukraine has shown how Russian subs in the Black Sea have fired on mainland targets and blockaded Ukrainia’s southern coast. NATO doesn’t want that to happen in the Arctic.

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SOME RUSSIAN FISHERMEN WORKING IN WATERS OFF NORWAY are clearly uncomfortable over how their country is relentlessly trying to destroy Ukraine. One of them recently gave a young Norwegian crane operator an envelope while their fishing vessel was docked in Tromsø, on which was handwritten “Human help for the Ukrain.” Inside the envelope were 10 Norwegian 500-kroner notes.

“I thought, ‘what’s this?'” 18-year-old Emil Grendal Rolland told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). He had just finished his first day on the job when one of the Russian workers on board the Russian fishing vessel approached him and asked him “to deliver” the money, clearly to an organization helping Ukrainians. “I was very surprised,” Rolland said. “He really wanted to help Ukraine.”

Rolland took the money and consulted his new boss, Bård Ovesen, who found it all “very touching” and unusual. “Five thousand kroner is a lot of money to give away to help the people your country is attacking,” Ovesen said, also that they’d entrust such an amount to a stranger.

Rolland and Ovesen turned the money over to a fundraising concert, proceeds from which went to the Red Cross to help Ukrainians who need food, water, blankets, medicine and first aid. A Red Cross spokesman said the donation from the Russian fisherman illustrates solidarity and how Russians also are mobilizing to help those under attack.

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NORWEGIAN GAS IS IN GREAT DEMAND, and prices keep skyrocketing, after Russia cut off exports of its own gas to Poland and Bulgaria. Both countries had refused to pay for it in Russian rubles, but a new gas pipeline from Norway to Poland should be able to help offset the loss.

Norwegian oil and energy company Equinor can use its established pipeline system to send natural gas from the Norway to Europe and, soon, a new pipeline to Poland. PHOTO: Equinor/Helge Hansen

“By the end of the year it (the pipeline) should be able to send considerable amounts of gas to Poland,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said after a meeting with Polish officials last month. Now Norway’s gas will be more important, and pricier, than ever, since Russia had supplied around 45 percent of Poland’s gas consumption.

The EU Commission’s leader, Ursula von der Leyen, has claimed the EU was prepared for the halt in gas shipments from Russia to the two EU members and probably more in the weeks and months ahead. She also claimed the EU will not bow to what she called “blackmail” from Russia as it continues to attack Ukraine and object mightily to the EU’s and Norway’s support for Ukraine.

Russia has long been the largest exporter of natural gas to the EU, with Norway in second place, according to news bureau NTB. Norwegian suppliers are now delivering as much gas to the continent as they can, and profiting at the same time. Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reports that analysts expect Norwegian oil and energy company Equinor to report more record results next week for the third quarter in a row.

Prospects for Norwegian gas are high, but it won’t be able to replace the lack of Russian gas. The EU is determined to reduce total imports by two-thirds by the end of the year and is now more motivated than ever. “Vladimir (Putin) has done the job for us,” French gas analyst and professor Thierry Bros told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on Thursday.

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THE NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT EXPRESSED MAJORITY SUPPORT on Thursday (April 28) for the government’s proposed support package for Ukraine, which offers more than NOK 14 billion (USD 1.5 billion) to help Ukrainian refugees. Norway is also evaluating more weapons donations to Ukraine, and a major increase in its own defense spending, after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and set off the past eight weeks of horror on the European continent. “Putin’s war is in Ukraine, but it’s also against our values and our lifestyle,” wrote Heidi Nordby Lunde, leader of Oslo’s Conservative party and a proponent of EU membership for Norway. More defense, she argues, will “protect our most important values, like democracy, human rights and equality.”

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THERE’S STILL BEEN LOTS OF ALLIED DEFENSE ACTIVITY IN NORWAY, even after major NATO exercises ended this month (April), and there’s bound to be more. Fighter jet training has been frequent around Bodø and Bardufoss, as especially US and Norwegian forces trained together from Norwegian bases.

Allied defense exercises have still been held over Northern Norway in recent weeks. PHOTO: US Marine Corps/Adam Henke

It’s all part of increased international cooperation since Russia invaded Ukraine. While most NATO forces have been redeploying out of Norway since the Easter holidays, all NATO members plus more were meeting in Germany on Tuesday to further coordinate their support for Ukraine. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says the government is still considering sending heavier weapons to Ukraine in addition to the 4,000 anti-tank missiles and 100 land-to-air missiles already contributed.

“Donating weapons to a country at war is a new experience for our country,” Støre said while addressing Parliament Tuesday morning (April 26). He added, though, that Ukrainian forces “will need more weapons to fend off the (Russian) attacks in the east and the south,” as he offered a status report of Norway’s contribution to the war effort. “They’ll need more advanced weapons systems.”

Støre also told Parliament that the government is proposing a donation of NOK 400 million (USD 44 million) to a British fund that’s purchasing weapons and military material for Ukraine. The fund’s British managers will also coordinate the purchase and transport of defense material to Ukraine. Norway will retain control over what kinds of weapons are purchased with its donation. More funding is likely to be proposed after the meeting in Germany on Tuesday, at which Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram and Norway’s defense chief, General Eirik Kristoffersen, were participating. Newspaper Aftenposten reported Tuesday that Germany ranks fourth on a list of countries sending the most money to Ukraine. Norway wasn’t on the list.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who’s leading the meeting at the Ramstein base in Germany, has said Ukraine “can win (the war Russia launched) if they have the right equipment.” That angered the Russians, who view weapon support to Ukraine as unacceptable and landing the US and NATO effectively in conflict with Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov went on to warn that could start World War III.

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WARNINGS OF WORLD WAR III along with Russia’s earlier attacks on Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant have prompted cities and towns all over Norway to make sure they have enough iodine tablets to distribute in the event of nuclear fallout. Now, reports Aftenposten, they need to prepare for as rapid distribution as possible.

“We are very impressed by the efforts municipalities have made,” said Dr Espen Nakstad of the state health directorate. “Preparedness has been put in place very quickly.” The iodine tablets will be distributed first and foremost to children up to the age of 18, to pregnant women and to those nursing babies. The city of Lørenskog, just northeast of Oslo, already has 30,000 tablets on hand, enough to cover all its residents in those groups most at risk.

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A RUSSIAN TANKER DELIVERING RUSSIAN OIL TO A TERMINAL IN NORWAY was met by demonstrators on Monday (April 25). The environmental activists were protesting not only the Russian interests behind the delivery, given Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, but also the oil itself.

Greenpeace activists called for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine and objected to how a Russian tanker was allowed to offload jet fuel at a terminal on the Oslo fjord on Monday. A police boat sailed in to halt the demonstration and make arrests for defying a security zone around the vessel and Esso Norge terminal at Slagentangen. PHOTO: Greenpeace Nordic

“I’m shocked that Norway operates as a free port for Russian oil, which we know finances Putin’s warfare,” claimed Greenpeace Norway leader Forde Pleym. He added that oil “is at the root of the climate crisis” along with wars and conflicts.

“During these two months of Russia’s war of aggression, we have seen horrific images of the unimaginable suffering of the innocent civilian population of Ukraine,” Pleym stated “The fact that our government still allows the import of Russian fossil fuels in the current situation is unfathomable.”

(The Norwegian government later attached itself to the EU’s most recent sanctions, immediately closing its borders on April 29 to all transport of Russian cargo and its harbours to all Russian ships expect fishing vessels from May 7.)

Objections had also been raised earlier over how Russian vessels can still call at Norwegian ports, seemingly in defiance of international sanctions against Russia. The port calls in Norway, however, are part of a longstanding agreement between Norway and Russia tied to joint search and rescue efforts and vessels’ urgent needs for replenishment or repair. Greenpeace dismisses the legality of Russian vessels in Norway as “loopholes” in the law.

The Russian tanker Ust Luga was reportedly carrying 95,000 tons of jet fuel with a market value of USD 116 million due for delivery at Esso Norge’s Slagentangen terminal south of Oslo. Anne Fougner of Esso Norge told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that the the company was honouring all Norwegian sanctions and that it supports the internationally coordinated efforts to halt Russia’s war on Ukraine. She claimed, though, that the fuel being delivered this week was in line with contracts placed before the invasion and that its delivery did not violate sanctions. Esso Norge, she said, hasn’t bought any Russian products since the invasion on February 24 and has no plans for further purchases.

Police were on hand when the demonstration began, with NRK reporting that 10 climate activists from another group, Extinction Rebellion, were detained for failing to abide by police orders to respect a 500-meter security zone around the terminal and refinery. Five demonstrators on land had been ordered to leave the area, while those surrounding the tanker fastened one of their rubber rafts to the tanker’s anchor chain.

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NORWAY’S DEFENSE MINISTER AND DEFENSE CHIEF WILL BOTH TAKE PART in a US-led meeting in Germany on April 26 to examine Ukraine’s long-term defense needs. “It’s important that we all stand together to support Ukraine in their battle against Russian invasion forces,” Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram told news bureau NTB over the weekend. The goal of the meeting is to coordinate both short- and long-term support for Ukraine. The meeting is due to attract defense officials from 40 countries and will be led by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Norway has already sent two shipments of weapons, and calls are already going out to send more.

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NORWAY SUDDENLY FOUND ITSELF BLAMED BY SOME RUSSIAN MEDIA for supplying missiles that allegedly sunk Russia’s iconic naval vessel Moskva last week. Newspaper Aftenposten reported on Friday that “Russian war propaganda” picked up by local media denied the Ukrainian defense department’s statements that the Moskva was targeted from land and struck by two of Ukraine’s Neptun missiles. “To sink the ship they chose not Neptun missiles but NSM (Naval Strike Missile) which is developed by Norway and the USA,” read one Russian report translated by Aftenposten.

The NSMs are produced by Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace in Norway but “there is no credible, verified information that suggests NSM missiles have been delivered to Ukraine,” Aftenposten wrote. There have been a variety of other Russian media reports trying to discount Ukraine’s claims of sinking the vessel, which is believed to have had around 500 Russian troops on board, many of which are also believed to have perished. Russian officials, meanwhile, continue to remain intentionally vague about what caused their ship to sink.

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NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS CLAIM THEY CONTINUE TO EVALUATE Ukrainian government requests for weapons, and are considering sending more that could help Ukraine defend itself. New Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram of the Center Party noted that the war “continues to develop” and it’s not possible to say what types of deliveries might be made.

“The messages from Ukraine are for lots of different equipment, material and weapons,” Gram told newspaper Aftenposten. “What we’re contributing is meant to help Ukraine defend itself. That’s the whole basis for it. I won’t speculate on what kinds of weapons we may send later. We’re not part of the war, but we’re helping a country defend itself.”

Asked whether Russia has reacted to Norway’s recent shipments of weapons to Ukraine, Gram said he wasn’t aware of any complaints.

Norway’s Liberal Party, meanwhile, wants to send more weapons and more money to Ukraine and strengthen sanctions against Russia. The Socialist Left Party (SV) won’t agree to send any “offensive” weapons to Ukraine, only defensive, claiming it was possible to differentiate between the two.

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RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE HAS LED TO AN AMERICAN COMEBACK in Europe and not least in Norway. After years of skepticism and even friction between the US and its NATO allies, two Norwegian defense experts have noted how the west has quickly reunified and regained collective strength.

The US aircraft carrier Harry S Truman recently trained with the Norwegian frigate Fridtjof Nansen, shown here sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Marius Vågenes Villanger

Professor Øystein Tunsjø and Assistant Professor Johannes Gullestad Rø of Norway’s Institute for Defense Studies cited four major reasons for western allies’ resurgence in a recent commentary in newspaper Aftenposten.

They wrote that mistakes and miscalculations made by Russia shortly after its invasion of Ukraine revealed military weaknesses that make it more difficult for Russia and China to pose together as geopolitical rivals to the US in the years to come. The Russian threat that emerged last year and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February also brought the US and Europe closer together and strengthened their trans-Atlantic relation. The value of the NATO defense alliance rose quickly, removing much of the uncertainty that arose during the Trump years. Finally, they wrote, US intelligence reports made public before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine proved to be correct: The threat of a Russian invasion was real, and that has helped “rehabilitate” the US’ credibility.

“The question of whether NATO membership has real strategic value has been buried,” wrote Tunsjø and Rø. Most NATO members, not least Germany, are now rapidly building up their individual defense, while internal agreement and solidarity were quickly confirmed. “There’s reason to believe that the US can expect more of its European allies in the defense of Europe in the years ahead,” they wrote.

Challenges for the US and NATO members remain, the two experts wrote, and the former degree of US dominance has declined, “but in this round, the combination of the situation and quick political decisions … have contributed to an American comeback.” In Norway, meanwhile, US troops have become active than ever and Norwegian officials are allowing greatly expanded US military presence (see below).

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NORWEGIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN REPEATING EARLIER REQUESTS for  Norwegians  to refrain from heading for Ukrainian border areas and offering to bring refugees from Russia’s war on Ukraine to Norway. Newspaper Aftenposten has also reported that not all the Norwegians who’ve traveled to border cities in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova, for example, have honourable intentions.

Of more than 200 Norwegians taking part in private efforts to transport refugees to Norway, at least a dozen were found to have criminal records. Aftenposten acknowledged that its background checks were limited in nature, but humanitarian agency Norsk Folkehjelp (Norwegian People’s Aid) reported that it had rejected some who were volunteering to drive buses because of prior convictions for violence, fraud, drug dealing or making threats.

“Improvised efforts to transport refugees, in which people offer transport and lodging, can be a recipe for disaster,” one official working for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told Aftenposten. Refugees crossing the border have also been warned not to accept help from strangers with no ties to humanitarian organizations.

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NONE  OF THE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES CROSSING THE BORDER INTO MOLDOVA has as yet accepted offers from the Norwegian government to fly especially those needing special medical treatment to Norway. The government has approved funding to fly up to 2,500 Ukrainian refugees to Norway, but newspaper Dagsavisen reports that those in Moldova still hope to return to their own homes in southern Ukraine. The UN is organizing refugee transport after officials in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, asked for help. Around 400,000 Ukrainians had crossed into Moldova before the Easter holidays, with around 100,000 of them intending to remain there. Others wanted to wait to see how the war develops, in the hopes of re-crossing the border back to Ukraine.

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NORWAY IS EXTENDING ITS TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO LITHUANIA by at least another three months. The government announced during the week-long Easter holidays that its involvement in the NATO defense effort along LIthuania’s border to Russia will continue until August and perhaps beyond.

Norway has had troops in Lithuania for months and is now extending their presence. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Frederik Ringnes

Norway already expanded its involvement in what NATO calls its enhanced Forward Presence in Lituania and now has around 200 military personnel stationed in Lithuania. As part of the former Soviet Union, Lithuania is among NATO’s Baltic members needing special protection since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of another Russian neighbour, Ukraine, in late February.

Norway’s defense ministry describes the security situation in Europe as “still very demanding,” and worsened since the invasion. The government is also planning for ongoing presence of Norwegian troops in Lithuania after August, as part of an effort to “show solidarity with NATO allies.”

Norway is taking part in a German-led battalion with tanks, soldiers and support personnel to help patrol border areas and boost overall defense. NATO has similar multi-national defense forces set up in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary in addition to those in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland.

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NORWAY AND THE US WERE MOUNTING ANOTHER LARGE MILITARY EXERCISE in the Arctic right after the Easter holidays, involving around 800 American soldiers. The exercise was planned before Russia invaded Ukraine, but has taken on new relevance after one of Norway’s neighbours (Russia) attacked another neighbour.

Around 800 US soldiers are arriving in Northern Norway this week for more joint military exercises with their Norwegian allies just after the Easter holidays. A battleship, amphibious landing craft and helicopters are among the equipment showing up on Norwegian beaches like here, in the northern county of Troms. PHOTO: Forsvaret

US troops already arriving in Northern Norway are part of quick reaction forces from the US Marine Corps. Exercises will take place on land, at sea and in the air. The battleship USS Kearsarge sailed into Tromsø earlier this week, with Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) noting that it’s the first time such a large US vessel has visited the city. Its arrival came just a week after another US nuclear submarine surfaced in Tromsø, too.

Newspaper Klassekampen has reported on increased rivalry among the superpowers in the Arctic, with the US, Russia and China all boosting their presence in the area that’s long been Norway’s strategic backyard. The US now views the Arctic as far more than just its territory in and around Alaska: “The superpower rivalry (in the entire Arctic region) is now becoming more and more clear,” Andreas Østhagen, a senior researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway, told Klassekampen.

At issue, he says, is “military positioning,” an increased interest in Arctic resources such as oil, gas, minerals and food, and control over the Barents Sea. Russia needs access through the Barents for its vessels based around Kola: “If its fleet, especially its nuclear submarines, can’t get out (towards the North Atlantic), Russia won’t succeed with its nuclear deterrent in crisis times,” Østerhagen said.

Svalbard and Bjørnøya, which Norway controls, are strategically important for both sides. “It means a lot to Norway that the US is now looking north,” Østhagen said, while Norway has controversially been allowing more and more US presence on its own bases. Andøya, for example, will now become a permanent base for arriving allied forces.

Karsten Friis of the foreign policy institute NUPI in Oslo said it was “logical” for the US and Norway to be training together now, as long as the two allies “don’t operate in a manner that’s would unnecessarily provoke Russia.” The new training session comes just weeks after NATO’s Cold Response exercises in Norway this winter.

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THE NEW COLD WAR THAT RUSSIA HAS LAUNCHED along with its invasion of Ukraine in late February is now also causing problems for what had been good cooperation between Norwegian and Russian researchers in the Arctic. They, along with experts from other countries, had been working together on how the permafrost is melting, what’s behind enormous forest fires in Siberia in recent years and how methane is leaking from the bottom of the sea, among other issues.

Most projects are now on ice themselves because of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cut off communication and prompted economic sanctions that now affect research funding. Frans-Jan Parmentier, a climate researcher at the University of Oslo, wrote in newspaper Klassekampen recently how the sharing of information has all but stopped up. He noted how risky it is to even try to contact his former Russian research colleagues, at a time when Moscow can declare anyone to be a foreign agent.

“Call me a naive pacifist,” Parmentier wrote, “but I still hope that someday we’ll be able to meet on the tundra again, as friends.”

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PRIME MINISTER JONAS GAHR STØRE HAD ANOTHER CONVERSATION with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday (April 11), but neither man went into great detail. Støre is under pressure from Zelensky, NATO colleagues and lots of politicians in Norway to send more weapons to Ukraine.

Prime MInister Jonas Gahr Støre (lower right, wearing Ukrainian colours) and members of his government listened to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressing Parliament last month. Now Zelensky wants more weapons to fend off the Russians. PHOTO: Stortinget/Morten Brakestad

Støre merely wrote on social media Monday evening that he’d had “a good conversation” with Zelensky, who is under more pressure than ever himself after Russian troops continue to attack the eastern city of Mariupol and are believed to be mounting a major offensive after suffering losses elsewhere in Ukraine.

Støre wrote that the two talked about “the development of the Russian offensive and Ukraine’s resistance. “Norway supports Ukraine’s right to defend itself, and will, along with other countries in Europe, support their battle for democracy and freedom,” Støre wrote. Ukraine can only prevail, Zelensky has said earlier, if more countries send them the weapons and ammunition needed to fend off the Russians.

Zelensky, meanwhile, wrote that he told Støre “how it was going with our resistance to the aggression, and about Russia’s terrible war crimes. We agreed that all guilty parties must be punished.”

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NORWAY WILL BE POLITICALLY MORE WILLING AND ABLE TO SEND WEAPONS to Ukraine after the Socialist Left Party (SV) changed its mind and now supports sending more, to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks. SV leader Audun Lysbakken went along with a proposal to give more weapons to Ukraine at a national party meeting on Thursday (April 7).

Nordic defense ministers visited NATO troops during the recent Cold Response exercises in Norway, and could demonstrate use of defensive weapons similar to those Norway has sent to Ukraine. More may soon be on the way. PHOTO: Forsvarsdepartementet

“The Ukrainians have a right to defend themselves,” Lysbakken told reporters after the meeting, “and it’s now first and foremost their ability to do so that’s keeping (Russian President Vladimir) Putin from carrying out his plans. That why we have now come to the point where we can support Norway’s (weapons) contribution.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, made another appeal for “weapons, weapons, weapons” at Thursday’s meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. “Either you (NATO members) help us now, and I’m talking within days not weeks, or the help will come too late,” Kuleba said, just as horrific photos of the results of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians were shocking the world. He also wants assault weapons, not just those used for defensive purposes. Differentiating between the two “no longer has any meaning given the situation in my country,” Kuleba said.

SV’s support for more weapon deliveries from Norway is thus important, since Norway’s left-center minority government coalition needs it to obtain a majority in Parliament. On this issue, it’s likely that the government would also win support from opposition parties in Parliament on the non-socialist side, but SV’s backing provides some government unity. SV’s traditional opposition to Norway’s membership in the NATO defense alliance has also been fading since Putin ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

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NORWEGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNIKEN HUITFELDT SAID VIDEO SHOWING the alleged murder of a Russian soldier captured by Ukrainian soldiers “must be taken up” with Ukrainian authorities. “Laws and rules apply in a war” regardless of circumstances, Huitfeldt told newspaper Aftenposten on Friday (April 8). That applies to the legitimacy of targets and how prisoners of war are treated, she said.

Huitfeldt added that an investigation into the incident revealed by the The New York Times must be carried out. “That’s because what we see in the pictures of the attack is completely unacceptable,” she said. “We can’t dismiss this on the grounds that ‘war is war,’ and just accept the pictures we see.”

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RUSSIA HAS BECOME AN “UNSTABLE, UNPREDICTABLE AND MORE DANGEROUS” neighbour in the north, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt has stated. Now Norway and Sweden are joining forces to further increase their defense cooperation, while Sweden also considers joining NATO.

“Norway and Sweden have close and confident relations,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stressed before, during and after a meeting in Stockholm this week with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. “I want to strengthen our cooperation further, especially within security and defense, and the green transition.”

Nordic army chiefs met during joint military training at last month’s NATO exercises in Norway. From left: Pasi Välimäki of Finland, Lars Lervik of Norway and Karl L. Engelbrektson of Sweden. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Didrik Arnesen

Both agreed to do just that, with more joint military training exercises and more defense policy cooperation between Norway and Sweden. Defense leaders in both countries will meet more often, with the cooperation extending throughout all the Nordic countries that include Norway, Sweden, Finland (which shares a much longer border with Russia than Norway does) Denmark and Iceland. Norway, Denmark and Iceland are all founding members of NATO, but Sweden and Finland have never joined because of their efforts to remain neutral and not provoke the Soviet Union or, since it collapsed in the early 1990s, Russia.

Now Russia is provoking the entire world with its war on Ukraine, the horrors of which became even worse after all the destruction and civilian deaths found in Ukrainian towns from which Russian forces have withdrawn (see below). Both Sweden and Finland took part in NATO exercises in Norway last month (scroll down to read more) and more of that is likely. Andersson said late last week that she “wouldn’t rule out” Swedish membership in NATO, but wants to wait for a new analysis of the possibilities, threats and risk tied to it.

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RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE HAS SHOWN, according to the deputy leader of Norway’s Greens Party (MDG), how dangerously dependent the world has become on fossil energy, especially from non-democratic “pirate states.” Arild Hermstad, who has served as a Member of Parliament, wrote in a commentary in newspaper Dagsavisen on Wednesday that such dependency has left the world “in a deep and serious crisis,” and taken a toll on human rights, freedom and the environment.

“We have to do everything we can in dealing with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s invasion,” Hermstad wrote, and that includes reducing the need for fossil fuel. He pointed to how the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s has proposed lower speed limits and public transport fares, more use of home offices to reduce commuting needs, improved rail transport, more cycling and more walking.

Instead of searching for and investing in new fossil fuel projects, Hermstad said Norway should rather invest in projects to make people much less dependent on oil and gas, while also making use of fossil energy more efficient. “Every drop of oil or kilowatt hour of electricity that we save can make it more difficult for Putin to finance the war in Ukraine,” Hermstad wrote. He proposes a new national effort to reduce all energy use in order to be able to send more of Norway’s energy to European countries that need alternatives to Russian oil and gas.

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IT TOOK SOME TIME FOR NORWAY TO DECIDE WHETHER TO EXPEL Russian diplomats, even though many other European countries have been doing lately. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Tuesday, though, that the issue was still  “under evaluation.”

Germany and France sent Russian diplomats home this week and others quickly followed. Denmark announced Tuesday morning that it’s expelling 15 Russian diplomats on the grounds they’re actually functioning as “intelligence officers” or spies. They’ve been given two weeks to leave the country. Then came Sweden, leaving Norway as the only Scandinavian country continuing to allow Russia’s full diplomatic presence. Spain soon joined Sweden, and by late afternoon Latvia and Estonia announced they were closing Russian consulates and sending Russian diplomats home.

“Given the war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, Latvia has decided to close the Russian general consulates in Daugavpils and Liepaja and expell 13 Russian diplomats and employees,” wrote Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics on social media. Estonia, meanwhile, expelled 14 Russian employees from their missions in the country including seven diplomats, and closed consulates in Narva and Tartu. Norway finally followed later in the week.

Most of the expulsions come in reaction to the horrific conditions found this week in the Ukrainian town of Bucha after Russian troops withdrew (see below). Bucha was in ruins, corpses lined the streets and journalists could document mass graves and signs of execution and torture of Ukrainian civilians. Homes had been ransacked, with Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) airing video and photos of how the door of an apartment housing a family with small children had been broken down and the home trashed. Its occupants had disappeared.

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NORWAY IS JOINING EFFORTS TO DOCUMENT RUSSIA’s ALLEGED ATROCITIES in Ukraine, most recently in the suburb of Bucha outside of Kyiv (formerly written as Kiev). Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt called Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK’s) own photos of dead Ukrainians’ bodies left lying in local streets “an attack on civilians” and therefore a violation of the rules of war.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, shown here visiting an asylum center for Ukrainian refugees in Vilnius, Lithuania earlier this month. Now she’s keen to join a probe of Russia’s alleged war crimes in Ukraine. PHOTO: UD

“That’s why we must investigate this,” Huitfeldt said on NRK’s Monday morning newscasts, stressing that it was important to help collect evidence of Russia’s alleged war crimes. Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has already sent a formal request to the International Criminal Court to launch a probe into the horrific scenes found in Bucha after Russian troops withdrew.

Huitfeldt agrees that “it’s important to document this, so I will respond to his (Kuleba’s) wishes in this matter. This can’t just be passed over in silence, with us thinking this is just what war is all about, because this is much more serious than what we’ve seen in other wars.”

Huitfeldt was set to travel to Berlin Monday evening (April 4) for meetings with other foreign ministers. Russian authorities, meanwhile, deny their troops are behind all the killings of civilians in Bucha, claiming that Ukrainians have strewn the dead bodies on their streets and called in western media to take photos. Russia has asked the UN Security Council for a meeting to discuss what it’s representatives call “a provocation” by Ukraine.  Ukrainian media were reporting that at least 340 bodies had been gathered by midday in what local authorities are calling “a civilian massacre.”

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THE NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED MORE SPECIFIC  PLANS on Friday (April 1) to boost defense spending and aid to Ukraine, claiming that the war in Ukraine has “dramatically” changed the security situation in Europe. The government’s most important supporter, however, quickly criticized the spending plans because they’ll take funding away from other important foreign aid programs.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum had already proposed spending an extra NOK 3 billion on defense and NOK 500 million on civil preparedness this year alone. Støre noted how Russia has shown that it’s willing to use military force against a neighbouring country, making it necessary for Norway to boost its defense as another neighbour of Russia.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, shown here visiting NATO troops in Bardufoss last week, is boosting defense spending and needs to cover costs of caring for Ukrainian refugees. PHOTO: Statsministerens kontor/Ingrid B Myklebust

Støre stressed that there are no military threats against Norway directly, but security policy has changed. “The government’s most important job is to secure the population,” Vedum said. “We therefore propose extra funding to meet the new situation.” The NOK 3.5 billion will be allocated to measures based on professional military recommendations from Norway’s defense chief, including more defense presence in Northern Norway, more patrols by naval and coast guard vessels, more training exercises for Norway’s Home Guard and better cyber defense.

The government is also proposing an extra NOK 10.7 billion (USD 1.3 billion) to help the state and local governments take in the thousands of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Norway. Some of that will be used to transport 2,500 refugees now in Moldova, another 550 who need medical evacuation and all the thousands already in Norway who still need to be registered and housed.

There’s broad political support in Parliament for all the measures, but disagreement over how the government wants to pay for them. Audun Lysbakken, a Member of Parliament and leader of the Socialist Left Party (SV), is not happy that the government is tapping its foreign aid budget to provide more aid to Ukrainians.

“The government is effectively passing the costs of caring for refugees in Norway over to other countries needing Norway’s foreign aid,” Lysbakken told state broadcaster NRK. His party functions as a support party for the Labour-Center government to ensure it a majority in Parliament, so his opposition to the government’s plans is significant.

SV doesn’t want the world’s poor to have to pay for the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We must be able to both help Ukrainian refugees and the world’s poorest,” Lysbakken said.

The new budget proposals will be handeled through negotiations for a revised national budget in May and June. The government said Norway’s huge sovereign wealth fund known as the Oil Fund will be tapped for several billion, noting that Corona containment costs in the current budget are also lower than expected and can free up funding. At the same time, the government doesn’t want to further increase of oil money, for fear of overheating the national economy.

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US PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN REPORTEDLY WANTED NORWAY’S Jens Stoltenberg to stay on for two more years as secretary general of NATO, not just the one year to which Stoltenberg has now agreed. Oslo-based newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reported this week that French President Emmanuel Macron objected to a two-year extension of Stoltenberg’s contract.

“Outwards it was all smiles and friendliness,” wrote DN commentator Sverre Strandhagen, “but behind the scenes there was a battle.” Ukraine topped the agenda of last week’s NATO summit in Brussels, but Stoltenberg’s tenure was also a hot topic. Once again, according to DN‘s sources, Macron and the French delegation voiced various objections, also over how long Stoltenberg should stay on.

The French reportedly put forth former Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid as a candidate to succeed Stoltenberg, but even the Estonian delegation wanted Stoltenberg to continue. Hiring a new secretary general while a war is going on in Europe was not a good idea, they reasoned. With support for Stoltenberg unanimous, Macron gave in but protested when Germany and the US proposed a two-year extension. They settled on one year.

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A RETIRED NORWEGIAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WILL LEAD the United Nations’ probe of possible human rights violations in Ukraine following its invasion by Russia. Erik Møse, a former longtime member of Norway’s highest court (Høyesterett), is a legal expert on human rights issues.

Møse led the International Criminal Court for Rwanda from 2003 to 2007 and has been a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg since 2011. News bureau NTB reported that he’s now been appointed by the UN’s human rights council to lead its commission examining Russia’s invasion.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt congratulated Møse, now age 71, with his appointment. The UN council decided to form the commission earlier this month, with 32 of its 47 members voting in favour and only Russia and Eritrea voting against it. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is also investigating alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

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A LACK OF INTERPRETERS IS CAUSING MORE PROBLEMS for Ukrainian refugees in Norway and the Norwegian officials trying to help them. Efforts are being made to educate and certify more Ukrainian interpreters as quickly as possible.

With at least 30,000 and perhaps as many as 100,000 refugees from Russia’s war on Ukraine expected to arrive in Norway this year, the need to register and ultimately house them is acute. Many now arriving speak and understand only Ukrainian or some Russian and can’t communicate in English, much less Norwegian.

Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (center) met with Ukrainian refugees during a visit to the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine at Dorohusk earlier this month. They could communicate in English with her, but many fleeing the war now speak and understand only Ukrainian. PHOTO: Utenriksdepartementet

Volunteers with some knowledge of Ukrainian or Russian are trying to help, but Norwegian law requires all public agencies to use “qualified interpreters,” called a tolk in Norwegian. That’s meant to ensure their legal security, but police, immigration officials and health care workers don’t have enough interpreters who are certified. What’s needed now are those who have passed exams to be certified as “qualified.” In legal cases, “state authorized” interpreters with even higher levels of language competence are required.

One local university, Oslo Met, is trying to meet the call by offering what newspaper Aftenposten described as “extraordinary” courses in Ukrainian for interpreters. They’ll begin May 6 and end in December. Others with Ukrainian language proficiency can also be allowed to work as interpreters in the public sector if they go through an intensive three-day course and pass an oral exam.

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A NORWEGIAN EXPERT IN MILITARY STRATEGY THINKS Russian President Vladimir Putin “must be given a way out” of the war he started against Ukraine. “It’s important he isn’t backed into a corner,” Lt Col Geir Hågen Karlsen of Norway’s Forsvarets stabsskole told newspaper Dagsavisen on Tuesday. “It will hurt, but all parties to any settlement must be able to present something that can be portrayed as an acceptable victory after negotiations, especially for those who have lost on the battlefield.”

Karlsen, who’s closely following the war and appearing almostly nightly as a military commentator on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK)’s national newscast Dagsrevyen, said it appears the war otherwise has “stopped up” for the Russians: “They have suffered great losses, struggle with supplies and reinforcements and don’t have enough forces to secure progress.”

That’s why, Karlsen believes, there may be a pause in the fighting that he fears otherwise will drag on for a long time. He thinks “this will turn into a war with Russians merely trying to surround cities and stay there,” since they can’t mobilize a greater offensive.

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THE LEADERS OF THE NORWEGIAN AND US SPECIAL FORCES had what they called “an important meeting” in Northern Norway heading into the weekend. The meeting took place during NATO’s Norwegian-led winter exercises called “Cold Response.”

The exercises have brought nearly 30,000 troops from 27 countries to Norway and on Friday they also attracted US Army General Richard Clarke, chief of the US Special Operations Command. Details were predictably not revealed, but it was deemed significant that Clarke traveled to the area around Narvik to see cooperation between Norwegian and American special forces in action.

From left: US General Richard Clarke, General Major Torgeir Gråtrud and Commander Kåre Karlsen of the Norwegian naval command met to observe a training exercise between Norwegian and US special forces. PHOTO: Forsvaret

“The fact that General Clarke took the time to visit Norway after a trip in Jordan shows how important our cooperation is, and how important Cold Response 2022 is,” said Norwegian Defense Chief Eirik Kristoffersen. The visit is also taking place during particularly tense times as Russia continues to wage war against Ukraine and Norway boosts its defense preparedness. Norway also has troops believed to include special forces stationed along the border between Lithuania and Russia.

“Our cooperation is long-term, and will be strengthened in the future,” Kristoffersen said. Clarke claimed that it was important to see the special forces train together under winter conditions, “and build good skills and relations that will last for decades.”

Norwegian military leaders and top politicians have insisted that the Cold Response exercises that run into April were planned long before the war in Ukraine. Even though the war has created what the military calls “an uncertain and serious security situation in Europe,” Cold Response is not meant to increase tension: Russia was informed of the exercises well in advance and declined an invitation to observe them.

The head of Norway’s operative headquarters also had “a conversation” with the chief of Russia’s northern fleet as last as January, “and the tone was good,” according to the defense department. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

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SCHOOLS ALL OVER NORWAY ARE PREPARING TO WELCOME Ukrainian children who’ve had to flee Russia’s war against their homeland. More than 1,000 have already arrived in Norway and will especially need language training and post-traumatic stress programs. The government has acknowledged that it will be “demanding” to create enough day-care and school capacity for the Ukrainians but funding is being set aside.

One small town north of Oslo, Gjerdrum, can offer some special competence, with a Norwegian-Ukrainian psychologist and teacher already on staff and recent local experience in dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events. Gjerdrum suffered a massive landslide two winters ago that killed 10 people and destroyed an entire neighbourhood early on a dark winter morning. Local schools learned quickly how to help children who’d lost everything.

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NORWAY’S JENS STOLTENBERG WENT FROM MEETING all the leaders of NATO countries in Brussels on Thursday to rallying NATO troops in Bardufoss, Northern Norway on Friday. Stoltenberg’s visit to NATO’s Cold Response winter exercises was meant to signal not only NATO’s strength but also the strategic importance of the defense alliance’s northernmost areas.

Stoltenberg started his pep talk to the troops, though, by paying tribute to four members of the US Marine Corps who were killed in the crash of their Osprey aircraft last weekend. They were in Norway to take part in Cold Response and Stoltenberg conveyed condolences, while also stressing how this year’s “long-planned” military exercises were more important than ever. Russia’s “senseless” and “brutal” war against Ukraine, he said, makes it even more important “to show that we can stand together and defend all NATO countries.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, shown here addressing NATO troops assembled at Bardufoss in Northern Norway on Friday. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Torbjørn Kjosvold

Stoltenberg claimed that NATO has “a high level of military preparedness” in the Arctic, and that it’s been increased in the “High North” as well as in all NATO member countries bordering on Russia. He added that the goal was “not to provoke conflict, but to prevent conflict” and attacks like the one Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered against Ukraine.

Stoltenberg also warned that there’s been a “significant increase” in Russian military activity in the Arctic. He said that Russia’s war against Ukraine marks a turning point of sorts regarding security in the Arctic, an area where also China has become more active. “We’re seeing increased Chinese interest in the region,” Stoltenberg said. China has identified itself as a country close to the Arctic, he said, and “wants to increase its presence here.”

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, is keen to point the way towards peace, but Russia’s Vladimir Putin isn’t listening. At far left, Norway’s own defense chief, General Eirik Kristoffersen. PHOTO: NATO

Stoltenberg noted, however, that five of the eight countries countries actually located in the Arctic region are members of NATO: Norway, Iceland, Canada, the US and Denmark, through its ties to Greenland. Two others are among NATO’s “closest partners,” Sweden and Finland, which are taking part not only in Cold Response but in a Nordic defense cooperation that includes Norway.

While addressing troops assembled in Bardufoss from several of the 27 countries taking part in Cold Response all over Norway, Stoltenberg noted how NATO is also sending four new battle groups to counties including Poland and Slovakia. NATO’s “high military preparedness” in the Arctic has been increased “after what happened in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added, “and we can quickly get in more forces.”

The Norwegian-led Cold Response exercises, which continue into April, involve nearly 30,000 troops from NATO countries that also have sent 220 aircraft and around 50 military vessels including two aircraft carrier groups from the UK and Italy.

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NORWAY’S PRIME MINISTER CLAIMED THAT NATO’S extraordinary summit in Brussels on Thursday “shows how unified NATO is.” Jonas Gahr Støre of the Labour Party told news bureau NTB that “it also shows that we condemn Russia’s unacceptable warfare and attacks on Ukraine.” All 30 NATO leaders called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine “a strategic mistake.”

Støre was in Brussels for the meeting that was attended by the leaders of all NATO countries including US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now they’re all worried that Ukraine, in addition to more weapons, also may need protective gear after threats that Russia may start using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. “That’s totally unacceptable,” Støre said, as did NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

NATO will be sending more reinforcements to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which also border on Russia, want NATO to double its efforts to halt Putin. “Putin cannot win this war,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

They were all there: Government leaders of all 30 NATO member nations plus NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stood together on Thursday at an extraordinary summit in Brussels to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “immediately” halt his war and withdraw military forces from Ukraine. They also called on Belarus “to end its complicity” in “Russia’s attack on Ukraine that threatens global security.” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre an be seen in the top row, fourth from left. Front row center is NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, also from Norway. PHOTO: NATO

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NORWEGIAN POLICE REPORT THAT AT LEAST 9,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Norway, but only half of them have managed to register with local authorities. Immigration authorities and police are struggling to keep up with the demand and trying to boost their reception capacity.

“We’re having very hectic days,” Frode Hersvik of the Vest Police District in Bergen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Thursday. “We’re working as quickly as we can to help as many as we can.” He’s in charge of registering asylum seekers in Bergen.

Around 50-60 Ukrainian refugees are turning up every day at the makeshift reception center in the cellar of the Thon Hotel at the local airport. They’ve been told that it’s necessary to register even though they’re assured residence and working permission in Norway. Many end up having to wait for hours, though, and the situation is just as challenging at other reception centers including the national reception center in Råde in southern Norway. Around 400 remain on a waiting list in Bergen alone.

State officials predict as many as 100,000 refugees from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine will make their way to Norway. At least 2,500 will be transported from Moldova, which borders on Ukraine. UN officials estimate that more than 10 million of Ukraine’s residents are fleeing Putin’s war, fully a quarter of the entire population including half of the country’s children.

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UKRAINIAN REFUGEES ARRIVING IN OSLO THIS WEEK need lots of help, from pregnant women about to give birth to cancer patients who need to resume treatments. Doctors and nurses from city health care services are meeting them at a hotel leased by the city at Helsfyr.

One of the nurses, Stine Eugenie Hansen, went from working as leader of the city’s Corona telephone help line to meeting traumatized women and children at the hotel. Around 650 refugees were staying at at Helsfyr earlier this week, down from 900 last week. Most of them immediately just needed to have a shower, eat a proper meal and sleep. After that, all of them are invited to meetings with acute-care teams where they’re informed of health care services available. They’re also told about what normal physical and psychological reactions they can have in such a crisis situation. “Some cry with relief upon hearing that, others are quiet,” Hansen told newspaper Aftenposten.

All Ukrainian refugees are being granted automatic residence and working permission, with many keen to find a job. Both business and labour leaders are equally keen to get them into the labour force, with the head of Norway’s employers’ organization NHO estimating that as many as 20,000 can be offered jobs quite quickly: “It’s good for refugees to find work and a source of income, it’s good for their children to get back to school or kindergartens, and it’s good for employers to get help,” NHO leader Ole Erik Almlid told Aftenposten on Wednesday. “We also hope they can soon return to Ukraine. That has to be the goal, that they can go home. They’re needed there, so the sooner there’s peace there, the better.”

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NORWAY’S FORMER DEFENSE CHIEF believes Russia is both willing and able to utterly destroy Ukraine. Even though Russian forces have met much more opposition than expected, Sverre Diesen doesn’t think Ukraine can prevail now. “As long as the Russians have the capacity to bomb Ukrainian cities into ruins, at great humanitarian and civilian expense, Ukraine can’t win this,” Diesen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Monday.

Sverre Diesen served as Norway’s defense chief until 2009 and now researches defense issues. PHOTO: Wikipedia

Diesen, now working for the Norwegian defense department’s research institute FFI, fears even more Russian bombing of civilian targets. He notes that Russian forces have run into major logistical problems, need reinforcements from other parts of Russia, and that can take time. “We also see signs of weakening resolve and discipline within the Russian forces,” he said, but that won’t stop Russia from bombing Ukrainian cities.

“The big question,” he added, “is how much more damage and how many more deaths will the Russians impose on Ukraine with its ruthless bombing?” Russia has also suffered heavy losses, with intelligence experts reporting that several thousand Russian soldiers have also been killed in the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.

It all boils down to a huge dilemma for NATO, the US and other pro-democracy countries: “Only the West can stop the bombing,” Diesen told NRK. “It will be a choice between letting Ukraine be ruined and losing the war, or boosting support and challenging the Russians’ threat to escalate the conflict.” And that, according to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and others, could set off World War III.

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THE HEAD OF OSLO’S CITY GOVERNMENT IS WARNING against boycotts of Russian goods and overt actions that can be viewed as being “anti-Russian.” Raymond Johansen stressed to newspaper Dagsavisen that “we must be clear that Russians are welcome here, they can’t be blamed for Putin’s madness. It’s not the Russian people Ukraine has to fight.”

Raymond Johansen stresses that Russians are welcome in Oslo: “They can’t be blamed for Putin’s madness,” he told a local newspaper. PHOTO: Oslo kommune

Johansen is skeptical about how a district council in Oslo recently voted in favor of calling the intersection near the Russian Embassy “Ukraine’s Square.” He thinks acts like that “can be used by Putin to try to prove we’re anti-Russian. We need to think things through, so that we don’t make poor choices in our eagerness to show solidarity” with Ukraine.

Johansen also criticized how the state tourism agency on Svalbard, Visit Svalbard, has encouraged tourism companies against buying services from Russian companies. In some towns and cities, local hotels are not welcoming Russians. He thinks freezing all cooperation with Russia will also freeze out opposition to Putin, and that will in turn fuel his nationalism.

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PUTIN’S WAR IN UKRAINE HAS MADE the popular Russian port of St Petersburg far less attractive to cruiseships, claim tourism officials. It’s also, reports NRK, prompting cruise operators to leave the Baltic entirely and divert more of their vessels to Norway this summer, when tourism is expected to pick up again after the Corona crisis.

It remains unclear whether Norway can or will accommodate them. Several fjord areas and the capital of Oslo itself are limiting the numbers of cruise calls because of the emissions the ships generate and the hordes of tourists who disembark in small communities all at once.

Some local officials confirm new cruise interest, though, and point out that the cruiseships are unlikely to be filled to capacity as they were before Corona. “The ongoing war situation will also probably dampen travel interest, so the ships won’t be as full as before,” Tor Mikkel Tokvam, harbour chief in Aurland, told NRK. He has taken in 10 new reservations for cruiseship docking permission this summer.

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NORWAY’S POLICE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY PST WARNS that the Norwegian oil and gas industry boosts the threat from Russia. It can be a target of Russian frustration because it poses a threat as a major rival to Russia’s own oil and gas industry.

“Oil and gas is of high value for security policy in Russia, in addition to its pure economic value,” PST wrote in a new evaluation of Norwegian security on Friday. “As an important competitor to Russia, Norway can both strengthen Europe and weaken Russia through its sales of oil and gas.”

PST believes Russia poses more of a threat to Norway now because of its dissatisfaction over Norway’s decision to send defense weapons to Ukraine, its oil and gas industry that offers an alternative source of energy to Europe, and Norway’s ongoing membership in NATO. “We view the threat of Russian spying in Norway as higher,” Hanne Blomberg of PST told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Friday.

That in turn is prompting the government to boost border partrol, “and that can occur with a short time,” Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said at another press conference on Friday. Defense Minister Odd Roger Enoksen, meanwhile, said that military intelligence “has seen higher preparedness around Russia’s atomic arsenal in the far north, and we must follow that closely. There’s no reason to be afraid that Putin will use Russia’s nuclear weapons, but we have to be prepared that the worst can happen.”

The government has proposed and won support for a large boost in funding for Norwegian defense and civil preparedness.

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THE HEAD OF NORWAY’S MILITARY INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, Rear Admiral Nils Andreas Stensønes, has joined several other defense experts in claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin made some major miscalculations before invading Ukraine on February 24. Stensønes, who leads the military and overseas equivalent of PST called E-tjenesten in Norway, said on national radio Friday that Putin underestimated the Ukrainian people’s bravery, willingness to fight for their country and the efficiency of the Ukrainian military. It’s tiny compared to Russia’s arsenal, but has already managed to hold off an invasion of Kiev for three weeks.

Nils Andreas Stensønes is the chief of Norway’s military intelligence agency Etterretningstjenesten (E-tjenesten). PHOTO: Forsvaret/Torbjørn Kjosvold

Stensønes also agrees that Putin underestimated how the war he launched on Ukraine would immediately end quarreling within NATO and the EU, and quickly bring democratic countries together. Russia’s original plan, Stensønes claims, “was to use light forces, get into Kiev very quickly and take control over the capital and government leaders.” They were also, he said, supposed to attack military forces in a variety of ways, in the hopes that the Ukrainian forces would fall and the Russians could easily assume control early.

“That plan didn’t succeed at all,” Stensønes told NRK, adding that the Russians have now reverted to “Plan B, in which they’re using heavier forces, heavier artillery and trying to gradually break through (to Kiev) kilometer by kilometer. Then the civilian losses mount and destruction becomes much greater.” British intelligence reported on Friday that it now looks like Russia’s advancement “has halted on all fronts.”

“What’s difficult now is that Putin has landed in a situation where the consequences of western sanctions are greater and his war becomes much more expensive than he’d thought,” Stensønes said. “At the same time he’s made very clear demands about what he wants. That makes it difficult to see any way out of this. The best hope is a good negotiated solution.”

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NORWAY WON’T CENSOR RUSSIAN MEDIA often used as President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda machines. Debate has swirled over the issue after some European countries decided to block websites like Russia Today and Sputnik.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said last week that it would be “natural” for Norway to join its European allies in blocking the sites as well, but that set off objections from Norwegian press organizations. Even though they have no professional respect for the sites, Norwegian journalists, editors and champions of freedom of expression had concerns.

“We’d weaken liberal ideals and freedom of expression by using the same censorship that Russia uses,” claimed Knut Olav Åmås, leader of Fritt Ord (The Free Word), an organization dedicated to freedom of expression. Several newspapers also editorialized against blocking the Russian sites that publish in English including Dagsavisen, which wrote that it “would be wrong” to censor Russian media operating in Europe. “The propaganda war isn’t in Europe or Norway, it’s in Russia over Russians’ version of reality,” the paper wrote.

On Friday Støre said his government would not block Russian media after all. “Desinformation should be met as much as possible with critical thinking, not censorship,” he stated during his address to Parliament on the consequences of Putin’s war on Ukraine. He added that Putin could end up using any blockage of Russia sites as a means of legitimizing his own censorship of a free and independent press.

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NORWAY USED ITS SEAT ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL Thursday to hold Russia responsible for what it considers to be human suffering in Ukraine that’s entirely unacceptable. Norway’s ambassador to the UN also claimed that Ukraine “must stop its military aggression against Ukraine.”

It’s highly unusual for Norway to launch a verbal assault on Russia, but that’s essentially what its ambassador Mona Juul did on Thursday. “Russia and Russia alone bears the full responsibiity for the war and the humanitarian crisis,” Juul, a veteran diplomat, said at the UN Security Council’s latest session regarding the dramatic situation for the civilian population of Ukraine.

She noted how a Ukrainian child has become a refugee almost every second since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine. “More than 3 million civilians have crossed the border to neighouring countries to seek protection,” Juul said, “and more than 2 million are on the run within Ukraine.”

She concluded by demanding that Ukraine follow the order from the International Court to immediately stop what Russia simply calls its “military operations” in Ukraine.

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THE NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT IS SET TO PRESENT a new crisis package with funding aimed at addressing the consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine. It’s expected to offer more funding for Norwegian defense, civil preparedness and security, health care, sanctions against Russia and resources needed to handle an influx of Ukrainian refugees.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is due to address Parliament on Friday. He has earlier claimed that Norway will provide an extra NOK 2 billion in support for Ukraine, but been under pressure from opposition parties to specify how the money will be allocated and whether it’s enough.

Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reports that Støre will unveil the new crisis package, put together when his new Labour-Center coalition government gathered for its first state budget conference this week. The defense- and foreign ministries have been involved in forming the package along with the justice- and labour ministries.

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LUXURY YACHTS OWNED BY RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS are now unwelcome in Norway, but one docked in Narvik claims it can’t leave. “We wanted to leave last week,” claims its British captain Rob Lancaster, “but no one will sell us fuel.”

Lancaster allowed a crew from Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on board the yacht Ragnar this week. It’s reportedly owned by Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former KGB agent and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It sailed into Narvik on February 15 (see earlier report below), more than a week before Putin invaded Ukraine but also just as NATO troops were arriving in Northern Norway for NATO’s annual “Cold Response” winter military exercises.

The large yacht is still in Narvik, with Lancaster telling NRK the vessel was supposed to pick up some “guests” for a tour to Svalbard and Greenland “but they didn’t turn up.” After being boarded and inspected by police, the Norwegian coast guard and customs officials, Lancaster now complains of “discrimination” because no marine fuel suppliers will fill the yacht’s tanks. Several local suppliers confirmed that they don’t want to sell to a Russian ship, with the local mayor adding that they fear violating sanctions.

Lancaster stressed that the yacht’s crew members are all “western,” that they  “have nothing to do” with the owner of the Ragnar, and that the yacht itself is registered in Malta, part of the EU. Some Norwegian politicians have called on state authorities to seize the yacht. For now, at least, it’s not going anywhere.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENTS THAT HOUSE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES in private homes can be eligible for financial support from state immigration agency UDI. It means private persons can offer rental units for refugees and receive financial compensation through their local governments.

“The number of Ukrainian refugees coming to Norway is rising, and we can be facing a refugee influx the likes of which we’ve never seen before,” stated Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl, “therefore we need to use all the acccommodation we have to handle this.”

Her ministry instructed UDI to act accordingly on Wednesday. The prospect of using private homes to house refugees would also relieve demands on capacity at asylum centers.

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NORWAY’S HUGE OIL FUND WAS SUPPOSED TO LAUNCH a plan this week for selling off its investments in Russian stocks and bonds. On Tuesday, however, the central bank that manages the Oil Fund said that hasn’t been possible.

The sell-off is part of Norway’s condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The Norwegian finance ministry had given Norges Bank two weeks to to draw up a plan for carrying out its selloff by March 15. All investments were frozen as of February 28, four days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his invasion of Ukraine.

The bank noted that the Oil Fund’s investments in Russia were valued at around NOK 27 billion (USD 3 billion) as of December 31. The Moscow stock exchange, however, has been closed since February 28, and there are massive sanctions in place against Russian banks and businesses. In a letter to the finance ministry on Tuesday, the bank wrote that it will follow the ministry’s order to sell off all its holdings in Russia.

Because of closed markets and all the sanctions, however, “it is not possible to start the sales now. Norges Bank will get back to the ministry with a recommendation for ending the freeze … when the markets are functioning more normally.” The central bank and the Oil Fund will also recommend how to proceed based on sanctions and the fund’s own interests, cautioning that the sell-off “must be carried out over time.” Norges Bank called the situation “extremely uncertain.”

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NORWEGIAN COMPANIES ARE STRUGGLING TO COMPLY with all the sanctions imposed against Russia after its president invaded Ukraine. That’s because hundreds of pages of sanction packages haven’t been translated yet or made part of Norwegian law.

It’s been three weeks since the Norwegian government latched on to the EU’s sanctions packages. Norway is not a member of the EU but wanted to show solidarity with the condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. The problem is that the sanctions weren’t “automatically” transferred to Norway as a non-member of the EU.

The lack of translations and formal legal adoption of the sanctions makes it “very difficult” for companies to understand what the sanctions actually mean and how they should be applied, Anniken Hauglie of national employers’ organization NHO told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on Tuesday. Norway’s foreign ministry claims it’s been scrambling to translate the sanctions and make them legally valid as soon a possible.

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NORWEGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNIKEN HUITFELDT had an emotional meeting with refugees and aid workers at a border crossing from Ukraine to Poland last week. She called the situation “heartbreaking” at the time, and it’s since grown much worse.

Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt visited a border crossing between Ukraine and Poland last week and met with the secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross, Bernt G Apeland. PHOTO: Utenriksdepartementet

Nearly 2.5 million Ukrainians had felt forced to leave their homeland by early this week. Many are expected to make their way to Norway, or are being picked up at the border by friends, relatives or well-wishers. “It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen this type of refugee stream in Europe, and so close to Norway,” Huitfeldt told new bureau NTB.

Norway has been gearing up to receive Ukrainian refugees, with accommodation in place for several thousand around the country but much more needed. Norway has committed NOK 2 billion in aid to Ukrainia and is also sending aid to Poland and other countries that are initially receiving all the refugees, mostly women and children. Ukrainian men are expected to remain in the country and defend their towns and cities from Russian forces.

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RUSSIAN TROOPS USUALLY STATIONED NEAR KIRKENES in Northern Norway have reportedly been among those sent to fight in Ukraine, along with troops stationed near Russia’s border to Finland. They’ve also reportedly suffered heavy losses, weakening Russia’s northern brigades.

“They’ve been involved in major battles in Kharkiv,” Lt Col Geir Hågen Karlsen of Norway’s military college (Forsvarets høgskole), told newspaper Aftenposten during the weekend.

Around 4,000 Russian soldiers assigned to the Russian Northern Fleet’s ground troops are usually based close to the Norwegian border in the far north west of Murmansk. They’re the ones Norwegian forces would meet in any armed conflict. Now it seems their ranks are thinner after their brigades were involved in battles at Kharkiv on February 25 and March 1.

One of the Northern Fleet’s battleships has also been observed off Odessa, while troops from the Russian Marines attached to the Sputnik Base west of Murmansk have also been sent to Ukraine. The moves came even as NATO was gearing up for its major Cold Response winter exercises in Northern Norway that officially get underway this week. Russian officers are traditionally invited to observe the exercises but declined the invitation this year.

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NORWAY’S NEW OIL & ENERGY MINISTER Terje Lien Aasland has had to disappoint European colleagues. Both the EU and the UK are keen to find new sources of oil and gas after having to refuse such imports from Russia. Aasland, however, can’t offer much help in replacing the Russian oil and gas after confirming that he can’t satisfy requests to boost gas production.

“Norwegian authorities are in dialogue with our allies regarding the extremely serious situation,” Aasland told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN). “As the only exporter of oil and gas in Europe, the Norwegian production outlook is a natural part of the dialogue.” But he could’t fulfill their requests: “It’s well known that  the companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf are now daily producing as much gas and oil as possible on their Norwegian fields.” Norway doesn’t have more to offer at present to fill the gap, Aasland said.

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A NORWEGIAN BAND THAT HAD TO CANCEL an upcoming concert tour because of sluggish Corona-related ticket sales has redirected the bus it intended to use. Now Skambankt is sending its bus to Poland instead, to pick up around 30 Ukrainian refugees and bring them safely to Norway. News bureau NTB reported that the band’s manager Terje Winterstø Røthing and bass player Tollak Kalvatn Friestad will travel along with their bus driver.

“We’ve had some dialogue with various organizations and the Ukrainian Embassy in Norway,” Røthing told NTB. “First they asked us to wait, but then they asked us to go. A representative from the embassy will fly down and meet us there. There are so many people arriving in Poland.”

They’ll head for Przemysl, one of the border towns overcome by refugees. “We’re doing this to help,” Røthing said. “At the same time it’s also a way of showing solidarity that can inspire others to do the same.”

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MANAGERS OF NORWAY’S OIL FUND were asked by the Norwegian finance ministry to come up with a plan to divest the fund of all assets in Russia. The ministry initially ordered a freeze on all investments in Russia and then also a plan to sell out of the Russian market.

The plan is due to be delivered this week, and was initially branded by Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum as a means of sending a “clear signal” to Russian leaders that Norway condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Not everyone agrees that selling off Russian shares after they’ve crashed to rock-bottom prices is a good idea. Not only would the fund turn paper losses into concrete losses, supporters of the Russian government would have a chance to buy up shares cheaply. Companies in which the Oil Fund has its largest stakes include Gazprom, Lukoil and Sberbank of Russia, along with a long list of others.

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NORWAY IS SETTING UP ACCOMMODATION for at least 8,000 refugees from Ukraine who arrive with acute housing needs. Both the state and local goverments are arranging for hotel space in addition to the 1,000 beds available at the national asylum reception center in Råde near Fredrikstad.

Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl announced this week that Ukrainian refugees can also be eligible for state financial support if staying in private homes or with families in Norway. Several refugee housing centers are also being set up or re-established in Bodø, Nord-Aurdal, Rauma (Isfjorden), Hå, Lødingen, Sunndal, Nordreisa and Porsgrunn. Most of them will be operated by Hero SA, which has been responsible for refugee accommodation through state contracts in the past also.

More othan 1,000 Ukrainian refugees will be placed in Bergen, too, at three Thon hotels: the Orion, Sandviken Brygge and Bergen Airport.  Bergen’s city government is working with state immigration agency UDI to provide the emergency housing.

Norwegians around the country with housing units available for rent or extra accommodation in their homes are also being asked to take contact with local officials. Some have said they’re “overwhelmed” by the response, also from people with an extra bedroom in their homes. Refugees from the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin are proving to be most welcome in Norway.

“The phone has been ringing constantly, the community administrator in Askvoll, Håkoon Loftheim, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). “People have been offering their hytter (holiday homes), guest houses and available rooms in their homes. It’s amazing.”Among them is Helga Carlsen who told NRK she was glad when she, like other local residents, received a text message from local officials asking for rental properties available. She could offer a small house: “It’s fully furnished and ready for a family to move right in and have space for themselves. I’d been watching the news and seeing all the pictures and wondered how I could help. I’ll be very glad if some refugees can use my house.”

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A UKRAINIAN PASSPORT OR ID-CARD IS ALL THAT’S NEEDED to ride public transport in Oslo and its surrounding Viken County, along with many trains around the country. Ruter, the public sector transport operator in the Oslo metropolitan area, is also teaming up with two other large transport firms in Southern Norway, Brakar and Østfold kollektivtrafikken. Ukrainian refugees who’ve begun arriving in Norway can use their passports or ID cards as valid tickets, like they also can in many cities around Europe.

Train operators in Norway including Vy, SJ, Go-Ahead and Flytoget (the Airport Express Train running to and from Oslo’s main airport OSL Gardermoen) are also allowing free travel with a Ukrainian passport or ID card. Ukrainian refugees can also travel free in or out of Norway from Gothenburg and Östersund in Sweden.

The transport benefit has been widely praised but also left some claiming that such privileges should be extended to all refugees, not just those from Ukraine. A Vy spokeswoman told newspaper Dagsavisen that the Ukrainian refugee crisis is “such a special situation with so many arriving at once,” that such special, if temporary, arrangements were necessary.

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RUSSIAN CHILDREN WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY after all in Norway Cup, the world’s largest international football tournament. After lots of protests, Norway’s national athletics federation has reversed its decision to ban them after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war on Ukraine.

Berit Kjoll, president of Norges Idrettsforbund, had announced shortly after the invasion that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be banned from international sporting events in Norway, prompting Norway Cup organizers to honour the ban and block sign-ups from both countries. Kjoll initially supported that, on the grounds that “Norway Cup is an international sporting event and will be covered by the board’s ruling that encourages bans” on athletes from Russia and Belarus.

That set off lots of criticism from human rights organizations, children’s organizations and top politicians who thought children should be exempted from the ban. Now the athletics federation has changed its mind, with Kjoll writing in an email to state broadcaster NRK that she was “glad” the federation had “clarified” the federation’s “goal that children and youth from all countries … should be able to participate in games and athletic activity.” In other words, Kjoll and her colleagues beat a full retreat under pressure.

Norway Cup officials responded that they will “of course” follow the consequences of the new decision, meaning children aged 13 and up will again be welcome in Oslo this summer.

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SUPPORT FOR NATO IN NORWAY IS HISTORICALLY HIGH, writes newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN), and now even one of the country’s most ardent anti-NATO political parties is reconsidering its traditional opposition.

The Socialist Left Party (SV) is poised for an internal debate on its position, with SV leader Audun Lysbakken welcoming the discussion that follows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago. “It’s natural that there be a debate in the party on our security policy when the situation in Europe has changed so dramatically,” Lysbakken wrote in a text message to newspaper Klassekampen.

SV has earlier stated a preference for a Nordic security alliance, especially since neither Sweden nor Finland are members of NATO. Finland is now reconsidering its position, however, and both countries will take part in NATO’s upcoming Cold Response winter exercises in Norway with special “partner” status. Both Finland and Norway share a border with Russia in the north.

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RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN’S INVASION of Ukraine has unleashed new calls for Norway to keep building up its own defense, which was drastically reduced when the Cold War ended. Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) editorialized this week about how fragile peace and security can be.

Norwegian military is always on patrol along Norway’s border to Russia in the northeast, as is the Russian military. Now calls are going out for an overall strengthening of all branches of the Norwegian armed forces. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Edvin Wiggen Dahl

DN noted how Norway’s membership in NATO remains its “most important security guarantee,” but urged politicians to strengthen Norway’s own defense. “We need more and better military forces that can assert and defend our sovereignty and protect our security in situations where we now need to ask for help from our allies,” DN wrote.

Nearly 30,000 NATO troops are in Northern Norway for military exercises that officially begin next week. Norway can help others train for battle in winter conditions but DN claims that the Norwegian Navy is “weak,” with a lack of sailors and vessels, not least after losing one of only five frigates in a collision and sinking in 2018. The army also “must be strengthened” and more highly trained pilots are needed to fly Norway’s new fleet of F35 fighter jets, according to DN.

“The war in Ukraine shows that security in Europe can’t be taken for granted,” DN editorialized. “There must be a considerable build-up of the military. It will be expensive and mean that other projects get lower priority, but Norway has no alternative if we’re to be able to claim our own sovereignty in the midst of a crisis.”

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NORWEGIAN OFFICIALS ARE REPEATING WARNINGS that all local governments and businesses must brace themselves for cyber attacks from Russia. Newspaper Dagbladet reported that security experts don’t think it’s in Russia’s interests to launch any military attacks against Norway, since the country faces enough challenges in Ukraine. Many of the Russian forces based on the Kola Peninsula in Northern Russia, not far from its border to Norway, have also been sent to Ukraine, Lt Col Geir Hågen Karlsen told Dagbladet.

“But we must be prepared for other things, cyber attacks, for example,” Karlsen said. “We’ve seen a strong increase in those in recent years.”

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THE NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT IS SENDING medical supplies worth NOK 43 million (nearly USD 5 million) to Ukraine and neighbouring countries that are taking in refugees. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to shortages of everything from painkillers like Paracet to heart medicine, antibiotics and insulin.

Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol said the supplies including surgical equipment are being sent via the EU’s system for civil preparedness, with the first deliveries from Norway arriving in Poland last week. “We must help one another in crisis,” Kjerkol stated, adding that Norwegian health care personnel are also standing by and ready to help local health services in Ukraine’s neighbouring countries.

Norway has also offered to take in up to 550 Ukrainian patients as part of a European emergency response if needed, including children, anyone suffering burn injuries and cancer patients. Norway operates its own air ambulance that was put on standby duty from March 1.

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A FUNDRAISING CONCERT FOR UKRAINE at Norway’s National Theater Monday evening brought in around NOK 75 million (USD 8.3 million). The money will be distributed to the Red Cross, UNICEF, Caritas, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Norwegian Church Aid to help refugees and those caught in the war-torn country. Norwegian performers included Maria Mena, Sissel Kyrkebø and Jarle Bernhoft among others, and featured a special appeal by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

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NORWAY IS NO LONGER A FRIEND OF RUSSIA’S, according to Russia’s official news agency TASS. It reported on Monday that Russian authorities have now approved a list of foreign states and territories that are carrying out “unfriendly actions” against Russia. Included on the list are the US, all the members of the European Union, and Norway.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre had already stated himself that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 had “changed the relationship” between Norway and Russia, which share a border just east of Kirkenes in the far north. Now that seems to have been confirmed, even though both Norwegian and Russian residents of the border area have long had lots of contact, could freely cross the border and cooperate on lots of regional issues from fishing rights to search and rescue operations. Many still hope formal agreements will remain in place.

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AROUND 100 NORWEGIANS ARE KEEN TO FIGHT for Ukraine. News bureau NTB reported that the Ukrainian Embassy in Oslo has confirmed the expressions of interest in becoming voluntary soldiers for Ukraine, following its invasion by Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has earlier asked other Europeans to join the fight against Russia’s invasion, since Ukraine is not a member of NATO. There are no laws prohibiting Norwegians from fighting for other countries, but they must then be under the command of the country’s military and wear its uniform.

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NORWAY EXPANDED ITS CLOSURE OF AIR SPACE to Russian flights last week. Now it also includes Norway’s Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the islands of Jan Mayen and Bjørnøya, where Norway has both military and weather stations.

Barentsburg on Svalbard is home to around 400 Russians. PHOTO: NewsInEnglish.no/Morten Møst

Russia has a small community of around 400 people at Barentsburg on Svalbard, most of whom are officially tied to coal mining operations run by Trust Arktikugol. They’ll still be allowed to fly helicopters between Barentsburg and Longyearbyen, the largest community on Svalbard, since there are no roads between the two. Flights can also be allowed for humanitarian or emergency reasons.

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RUSSIAN SKIERS LEFT NORWAY ON A SOUR NOTE after being declared unwelcome at the weekend’s World Cup competition at Holmenkollen in Oslo. Then they found their team vehicles spray-painted with the Ukraininan flag and tagged with unflattering slogans.

Russian skiing star Alexander Bolsjunov was especially bitter, even claiming he didn’t feel safe in Oslo and claiming he was “shocked.” One of the Russian coaches told state broadcaster NRK that “we are all very sad,” and the Russian team reported the vandalism to police before leaving Norway.

Norwegians athletes had made it clear they didn’t want to compete against Russian athletes, given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last week. They didn’t defend the vandalism, though. While some said they could understand that opponents of the war would want to tag the Russian team’s vehicles while they were parked at Holmenkollen, biathlon star Tiril Eckhoff was critical, calling the vandalism “childish.” Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold agreed: “Call me naive, but I think this is Putin’s war. I don’t think it’s the Russian biathlon- or skiing team’s war, or wish.”

Organizers of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival claimed the Russian team’s vehicles were parked on public property and they couldn’t be held responsible. “What we can say,” Stefan Marx told NRK, “is that we don’t like what happened. It’s vandalism. We think the Russians should have been allowed to travel home in peace.” Some of them have also been met with threats. “I think that’s just terrible,” Alexander Stöckl, coach of the Norwegian men’s ski jumping team, told NRK.

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NOT ONLY WERE RUSSIAN ATHLETES UNWELCOME IN NORWAY this week, so were Russian oil companies. Oil & Energy Minister Marte Mjøs Persen announced that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, no Russian companies will be granted any licenses for oil and gas exploration on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. “Norway stands together with Europe regarding the massive economic sanctions against Russia,” Persen said, meaning Russian firms won’t be allowed to do business in the Norwegian sector.

Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) noted that Rosneft, which is 40 percent owned by the Russian state, and Lukoil, a large privately owned Russian company, have had a presence in Norway’s offshore territory for 10 years, but Rosneft returned its license several years ago and Lukoil appears to be in the process of delivering its license back as well.

Persen’s decree isn’t likely, meanwhile, to affect Wintershall Dea Norge, which has been active off Norway. Persen told DN that “the Norwegian firm Wintershall Dea Norge is a wholly owned subsidiary of the German firm Wintershall Dea.” Even though Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman is its second-largest owner, the Norwegian unit can avoid the goverment’s ban on Russian players. Fridman and Wintershall itself have both criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Wintershall calling it “the Russian President’s war of aggression … that has shaken the foundations of the company’s work in Russia to the core.”

Wintershall CEO Mario Mehren said in what the company called “a personal statement” that “the brutal attack is causing unimaginable suffering and marks a turning point.” Wintershall declared in a press release this week that it would not pursue any additional gas and oil production projects in Russia, would stop planning for new projects, would “basically stop payments to Russia with immediate effect” and would write off its financing of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that amounted to around EUR 1 billion.

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US PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN WON SOME GOOD REVIEWS in Norway for his State of the Union address in Washington this week, that spent a lot of time on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Newspaper Dagsavisen was among those praising Biden’s “stoic calm” in the midst of the crisis in Ukraine.

The paper noted that the president’s annual speech to Americans is also “a speech to the world,” which needs some reassurance right now. Biden had invited Ukraine’s ambassador to attend (a courtesy also extended by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre when he addressed Parliament this week) and the US president was “confident and inclusive, clear and with well-thought-out remarks,” while refraining from provocation.

“The world should be happy that Donald Trump is no longer president,” editorialized Dagsavisen, and that Biden, “with his massive experience from Congress and the White House as vice president, is leading the world’s most powerful land right now.”

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PRIME MINISTER JONAS GAHR STØRE HAILED THE COURAGE of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a phone conversation with the embattled leader on Wednesday. Støre told Zelensky that both he and the people of Norway “salute you for the courage of the Ukrainian people and you personally, for standing tall in this extremely dire moment in the history of Ukraine, but also of Europe. You have broad support from the Norwegian people in your struggle, which we also see as our struggle. ”

Støre has, however, cautioned Norwegians against heeding Zelensky’s call to travel to Ukraine and join the fight against invading Russian forces. “I understand that the discussion can come up,” Støre told TV2, “but war is dramatic.”

It’s not illegal for Norwegians to engage in war on behalf of another country, but anyone doing so must join the other country’s military and wear their uniform. “You must also assume the risks involved and be under the laws of the country at war,” said military lawyer Sigrid Redse Johansen.

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NORWEGIAN POLICE, THE COAST GUARD AND TAX AUTHORITIES raided a private luxury yacht that suddenly tied up in the harbour of Narvik in Northern Norway last week. The yacht is reportedly owned by former KGB officer Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who’s also a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Newspaper Fremover reported that Norwegian defense forces had been following the yacht Ragnar, as it sailed along the coast of Northern Norway just as major NATO winter exercises are getting underway. A former Norwegian intelligence agent told state broadcaster that it’s “hardly coincidental” for large Russian vessels to turn up during NATO exercises.

“This is something the Russians have done for years when major allied exercises are going on in Northern Norway,” Ola Kaldager told NRK. Kaldager said the vessels are usually fishing boats or “more advanced” sorts of vessels: “It’s a bit special that this is a good friend of Putin, who’s been a KGB officer.”

Norwegian authorities tried to downplay their “control” of the yacht, calling it merely a “standard control of a ship in our area.” All on board were holding valid passports and visas for the Schengen area, and authorities didn’t find anything amiss. Customs agents, however, were carrying out “normal routines” to ensure that any goods on board that are brought into Norway were subject to various taxes. The Norwegian Navy declined to comment on the authorities’ inspection of the yacht.

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NORWEGIANS HAVE STARTED HOARDING IODINE PILLS, which can serve as a form of vaccine against radioactivity. Pharmacies have been running short of supplies, after sales jumped following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week.

Some pharmacies have posted signs notifying customers that they’re “unfortunately sold out of iodine tablets for use after nuclear accidents.” It’s a scary message for many, in nervous times after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was raising Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons to a higher level of preparedness.

Putin’s move was roundly condemned as unnecessary and irresponsible, but it’s worried Norwegians who’ve had to deal with fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident over the years. “We do recommend that people have iodine tablets at home,” Ingrid Landmark of the state directorate for nuclear security told newspaper Dagsavisen on Tuesday, “but primarily because of possible accidents.”

Landmark confirmed that iodine tablets can help ward off the effects of breathing in nuclear fallout for 24 hours. Pharmacies, meanwhile, were restocking and rationing sales of the tablets, while Landmark stressed that the danger of any radioactive fallout reaching Norway remained slim.

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NORWEGIAN STATE OIL COMPANY EQUINOR is halting all new investment in Russia and will start the process of pulling out of existing projects in Russia because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. “We are deeply disturbed by the invasion of Ukraine,” said Equinor CEO Anders Opedal.

Equinor, formerly Statoil, has been doing business in Russia for more than 30 years, with the board’s decision to pull out on Monday called a “turning point in our operations, but the right decision.” Equinor has abided by sanctions but could uphold activity in Russia through what was called a “strategic cooperation” with the partially state-owned company Rosneft, run by one of Putin’s closest friends, Igor Setsjin. Equinor has, since 1996, been part owner of an oil field and has been producing around 30,000 barrels of oil a day.

Equinor’s assets and operations in Russia were valued at around USD 1.2 billion at the end of 2021, much of which will now have to be written down. Commentators called the pull-out necessary: “This is about the security situation but also has to do with Equinor’s reputation,” said Hilde Øvrebekk, a commentator specializing in energy issues at newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad. “You can’t continue to cooperate with a company that’s steered by Putin’s closest oligarchs.”

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OSLO-BASED YARA INTERNATIONAL’S OFFICE IN KIEV was bombed during the weekend, reports Norwegian news site Nettavisen. Yara’s office is in the same building that was targeted by missile attacks after Russia invaded Ukraine last week. Kristin Nordal, spokesperson for the large fertilizer producer that halted phosphate purchases from Belearus last month, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that all its employees in Kiev had been accounted for. “We are extremely worried about the terrible situation in Ukraine and stand fully behind the Norwegian government’s condemnation of the Russian military invasion,” Nordal said. “Our most important priority now is the safety of our employees in Ukraine.”

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UKRAINE’S EMBASSY IN OSLO WAS HIT BY A CYBER ATTACK on Monday that shut down its website. Several other Ukrainian embassies in the Nordic countries, elsewhere in Europe and the US were also hit, including websites for the embassies in Copenhagen, reports newspaper Berlingske, plus Sweden, Great Britain and Germany. Norwegian cyber security agencies have warned of increased cyber attacks even before Russia invaded Ukraine last week.

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NORWAY TOOK IN ITS FIRST REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE during the weekend, after 20 people who’d traveled by bus arrived at the national asylum center in Råde, just north of the Swedish border. Immigration agency UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet) said they were all women and children and were “exhausted after a long trip.” Some arrived via Poland. Norway’s national refugee center, which initially processes refugees before sending them on to towns and cities around the country, has 650 beds ready and can expand to 1,000 as needed.

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DEMONSTRATIONS SUPPORTING UKRAINE continued all over Norway during the weekend. They grew from just a few people standing outside the Russian Embassy on Thursday, to thousands gathering in Oslo and hundreds more in cities from Kirkenes in the north to Ålesund and Stavanger in the south.

Pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian demonstrators continued their protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine through the weekend, here in Oslo. PHOTO: NewsInEnglish.no/Morten Møst

Among them was author and retired teacher Asle Sveen, who co-wrote the history of the Nobel Peace Prize. “The last time I demonstrated here (outside the Russian Embassy in Oslo) was in 1968, after Russia invaded Czechoslovakia,” Sveen wrote on social media Saturday. He called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early Thursday “totally insane,” noting that Russian leaders earlier have referred to Ukrainians as their brothers and sisters, only to attack them now after lying for months.

Other demonstrators included both Ukrainians and Russians living in Norway, with several Russians telling Norwegian media that they were ashamed of what Russian President Vladimir Putin has done. “What’s happening now, with Russia attacking the independent country of Ukraine, has everyone in an uproar,” Evgenij Goman, a theater diretor and producer from Murmansk now living in and working in Norway, told newspaper Dagsavisen.

He said he feels both anger and shame over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and thinks many other Russians feel the same. Putin is now leading by fear, prompting Goman to think that most other top Russian politicians fear losing their jobs and positions, and are thus too afraid to voice any dissent.

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OSLO IS PREPARING TO TAKE IN REFUGEES from Ukraine, Mayor Marianne Borgen confirmed over the weekend. She said the Norwegian capital will take in as many as the goverment asks: “Oslo wants to be and is a city based on solidarity and wanting to show its humanity.”

Oslo’s City Hall lit up witht the colours of the Ukrainian flag last week and on Friday, an actual Ukrainian flag was also flying outside. “This is a way of showing our solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Borgen told newspaper Dagsavisen. “It’s important that we come to their aid, both here in Oslo and around the country.” She said several other Norwegian cities were also preparing to offer shelter for Ukrainian refugees.

Oslo City Hall (Oslo Rådhus),  home of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies, was basking in the colours of the Ukrainian flag after Ukraine was invaded by Russia on Thursday on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

State broadcaster featured the newly ornamented Oslo City Hall on its nightly newscast Thursday. PHOTO: NRK screen grab

“We’re doing this in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and their families and friends both in Oslo and other places around the world,” Raymond Johansen, leader of Oslo’s city government, told news bureau NTB.

Johansen added that he thought it was “disgusting” that a “power monger” would invade a neighouring country with the goal of replacing its government in 2022. He said Oslo officials were also arranging to take in refugees from Ukraine.

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PRIME MINISTER JONAS GAHR STØRE confirmed on Friday that Norway would contribute, in cooperation with the European Union, towards finding solutions for the hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming out of Ukraine after the Russians attacked. “We are positive and open to contributing to taking in our share of refugess within the framework of European cooperation,” Støre said at a press conference Friday.

The humanitarian situation following Putin’s attacks is acute. UNICEF estimates around 3.4 million Ukrainians will need help after being forced to flee their homes following the attacks. “We will stand up for Ukraine and the people of Ukraine,” Støre said. Norway has already committed to sending more than NOK 200 million in foreign aid to Ukraine.

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SO MUCH FOR DIALOGUE BETWEEN NORWAY AND RUSSIA in the so-called “High North.” Russia’s ambassador to Norway ended up being called in on the carpet on Friday by Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, who flatly accused him of lying to her.

Russian Ambassador Teimuraz Ramisjvilij was told that Russia bears “full responsibility” for the invasion of Ukraine. Huitfeldt told reporters afterwards that “Russia has earlier claimed it had no intention of invading Ukraine. I told him (Russia’s ambassador) that (such claims) have been a lie.”

She stressed that Norway and Russia have lived (as neighbours) in peace for centuries. “This meaningsless attack (on Ukraine) is not in the interests of the Russian people,” Huitfeldt claimed. She said the most important message she wanted to get across was the Norwegian people’s view on the war that’s been started by the ambassador’s boss, Vladimir Putin.

“We did not have a conversation,” she told reporters. “I expressed Norway’s message and then I left the room.”

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THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO NORWAY, meanwhile, suddenly dropped out of an annual conference this week in Norway’s northern city of Kirkenes, which is best known as a forum for dialogue between Russia and other Arctic neighbours. Ramisjvilij had attended on the opening days, but after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine early Thursday morning, he suddenly didn’t want to show face any longer.

Russia’s ambassador also rebuffed interview requests from state broadcster NRK and stayed away from a dinner Wednesday evening, after complaining that the conference agenda had been changed. Since Putin earlier in the week first announced Russia’s official recognition of two Ukrainian regions as independent states, the conference agenda turned to the connflict in Ukraine

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DEMONSTRATIONS IN NORWAY against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly expanded on Thursday, and not only in Oslo. Ukrainians living in Norway, along with many others, were out protesting what they consider to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s audacity for ignoring their homeland’s sovereignty and trying to topple their democratically elected government.

Hundreds of people protesting the war Putin that started early Thursday morning gathered near the Russian Embassy on Drammensveien Thursday afternoon, to vent their opposition to Putin’s invasion.  Then they marched towards the Norwegian Parliament, passing the home of the Nobel Peace Prize  (above) along the way. Resident Russians also joined the protests, with one young Russian man telling state broadcaster NRK that he was “ashamed” the leaders of his country resorted to military aggression against a peaceful neighbour. (PHOTO: Morten Møst)

There were also protests in Stavanger, where one woman, Ludmila Laugaland, told NRK that she “woke up to a telephone call from family home in Kiev. There were bombs bursting around them. They packed up what they could and headed for a bomb shelter. They have nowhere to go now.”

NORWAY’S IMMIGRATION AGENCY (UDI) has suspended all demands for Ukrainians to leave the country if their residence permission has expired. No one will be deported for the forseeable future either, UDI announced. The immigration agency is also bracing for a new influx of asylum seekers after Putin’s toops rolled in, allegedly to destroy Ukrainia’s democracy and install Putin’s own puppet government. UDI reported that it hadn’t seen any increase in Ukrainian refugees arriving in Norway yet, but news bureau Reuters reported that an estimated 100,000 Ukrainians are now fleeing their homeland, mostly heading west towards Poland, Slovakia and Hungary on Thursday. UDI claimed it was prepared to handle an increase in asylum seekers.

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CROWN PRINCE HAAKON interruped a family holiday abroad to return to Norway after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine early Thursday. The entire Royal Family had traveled to an undisclosed location this week to celebrate King Harald V’s 85th birthday on Monday. His birthday coincided with the annual week-long winter school holiday, and came just after the Norwegian government had eased most Corona-related travel restrictions. The crown prince, however, deemed it best to attend to his constitutional duties as regent and preside over the weekly Council of State session with the government on Friday.

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NORWAY’S FOREIGN MINISTRY HAS TEMPORARILY CLOSED its embassy in Ukraine, after initially moving it father west of Kiev to the city of Lviv. The ministry was concerned about the safety of Norwegian diplomatic staff in Kiev even before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full invasion of Ukraine early Thursday. By Thursday evening Norwegian diplomatic personnel had been evacuated from Lviv as well. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt claimed the government was “concerned about the situation for Norwegian citizens in Ukraine” but they’d been urged to leave Ukraine for weeks and the massive invasion jeopardized embassy staff. Citizens remaining in Ukraine “now find themselves in an unpredictable and potentially dangerous situation,” Huitfeldt acknowledged. She said the ministry has taken direct contact with all Norwegian citizens in Ukraine who had registered with the embassy.

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THE ORGANISATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE (OSCE) is pulling all its observers out of Ukraine, including 10 Norwegians. They’ve been monitoring the situation for months, concentrating on the disputed regions in the east, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade the entire country on Thursday put their own security at risk. Now the Vienna-based OSCE wants to evacuate all observers, if only temporarily, but faces challenges with a war now underway.

newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund

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