Norway raises military readiness as tensions rise over Ukraine war

Oslo  — Norway will put its military on a raised level of alert from Tuesday, moving more personnel onto operational duties and enhancing the role of a rapid mobilisation force in response to the war in Ukraine, the government said on Monday.

Norway will also seek to bring its new fleet of US made P-8 Poseidon submarine-hunting maritime patrol aircraft into regular operation at a faster pace than originally planned, the chief of defence, Gen Eirik Kristoffersen, said.

“The government has decided that the army will raise its level of alert and move to a new phase from November 1,” the government said in a statement.

The scale of alert on which the military operates is classified, however, and the government declined to give details of the level.

Defence alliance Nato member Norway shares a nearly 200km land border with Russia in the Arctic as well as a vast maritime border.

The Nordic nation of 5.4-million people is also now the biggest exporter of natural gas to the EU, accounting for about a quarter of all EU imports after a drop in Russian flows.

“This is the most severe security situation in several decades,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere of the centre-Left Labour Party told a news conference.

“There are no indications that Russia is expanding its warfare to other countries, but the increased tensions make us more exposed to threats, intelligence operations and influence campaigns.”

The armed forces will spend less time training and more time on operational duties, and the Home Guard, a rapid mobilisation force, will play a more active role, defence minister Bjørn Arild Gramsaid.

The air force had called off training in the US with its F35 fighter jets, preferring to keep them in Norway, the head of the armed forces Kristoffersen said. “We expect this situation to last for at least one year.”

Norway first deployed its military to guard offshore platforms and onshore facilities after leaks on the Nord Stream pipeline on September 26 and has received support from the British, French and German navies.

The country’s security police last week arrested a suspected Russian spy and is also involved in protecting gas exports, vital to Europe’s energy supplies this coming winter.

Reuters