Russian fighter jets, flying in attack formation, headed straight for the far northern town of Vardø on a winter’s day last year, simulating an attack on the military surveillance radar station based there. They veered away just before entering Norwegian air space, in a move seen as aimed at intimidation. Lt Gen Morten Haga Lunde, […]
‘China and Russia pose biggest threat’
February 11, 2019
Norway’s military intelligence unit (E-tjenesten) delivered its annual evaluation of national security on Monday, and pointed to the same largest threat as the state’s police intelligence unit did last week: spying by foreign countries, with China and Russia as the most active. Lt General Morten Haga Lunde, head of the agency formally known as Etterretnings-tjenesten, […]
Norway rebuilds its northern defense
January 17, 2019
The Norwegian defense department plans to invest nearly NOK 2.5 billion rebuilding and expanding military facilities that were set up in its far northern areas during the Cold War. Many were dismantled or vacated during the 1990s, but rising tensions with Russia and between Russia and other western allies has prompted military brass to re-establish […]
Heads shake over Crimea ‘nonsense’
December 12, 2018
The former leader of Norway’s conservative Progress Party, Carl I Hagen, has never made a secret of how much he missed politics after retiring. The now 74-year-old politician still thrives in the spotlight, grabbing it once again this week in an appearance on Russian TV that brought him more attention and criticism back home. Hagen’s […]
Norwegian spy ‘cast to the wolves’
November 30, 2018
Frode Berg, the Norwegian charged with espionage in Russia, was ordered held in a Moscow jail for another two months on Friday. His wife back home in Kirkenes, meanwhile, claims Berg has been “cast to the wolves” by Norwegian officials who allegedly recruited him as a courier, only to refuse to acknowledge any connection to […]
GPS jamming raises more alarms
November 14, 2018
Police in Norway’s northernmost county of Finnmark are now issuing warnings that Russian jamming of GPS signals can threaten security and emergency preparedness in Norway. The warnings come after the Norwegian military confirmed that the latest wave of GPS jamming had been traced to Russian ground troops on the Kola Peninsula. Russian officials have long […]
Lavrov likely to re-visit Finnmark next year
November 2, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t expected to take part in next year’s 75th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of Finnmark from Nazi German forces in 1944. His foreign minister Sergej Lavrov, however, is likely to attend, just like he did on the 70th anniversary in 2014. Northern Norway remains grateful to the Soviet Army for […]
Russia reacts to NATO’s exercises
November 1, 2018
Two Russian bomber jets flew along Norway’s coastline as far south as Bergen on Wednesday before they turned around after being met by Norwegian fighter jets. The flights were viewed as another direct reaction to NATO’s huge military exercises that began in Norway last week. Russian officials have also announced that they’ll be conducting missile-launching […]
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