Norway to invite more U.S. Marines, for longer and closer to Russia
Source: Reuters
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway will ask the United States to more than double the number of U.S. Marines stationed in the country in a move that could raise tensions with its eastern neighbor Russia.
he government in Oslo has grown increasingly concerned about Russia following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Some 330 U.S. Marines were scheduled to leave Norway at the end of this year after an initial contingent arrived in January 2017 to train for fighting in winter conditions. They are the first foreign troops to be stationed in Norway, a member of NATO, since World War Two.
The initial decision to welcome the Marines irked Russia and Moscow said it would worsen bilateral relations and escalate tensions on NATOs northern flank.
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told reporters the decision did not constitute the establishment of a permanent U.S. base in Norway and was not targeted at Russia.
There are no American bases on Norwegian soil, she said, adding the decision had broad parliamentary support.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-us-russia/norway-to-invite-more-u-s-marines-for-longer-and-closer-to-russia-idUSKBN1J8149
-snip-
Soereide told Reuters in April that Oslo did not see Moscow as a military threat and that the threat of war in the Arctic, NATOs northern flank, was low.
But she said Oslo saw challenges in the way Russia was developing, not only militarily but also in the areas of civil society, the rule of law and democracy.
The Russian embassy in Oslo was not available for comment.
Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Matthew Mpoke Bigg
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
So basically they don't trust a Russian criminal enterprise.....................
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)noncliqer
(50 posts)And you're right it's a non-starter.
mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)Sorry, Norway.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)especially if BFF Putin wouldn't like it.
Yupster
(14,308 posts)They need NATO troops stationed there. They could be taken over like Kuwait in a day.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)there's no way Trump will go for it. Stephen Colbert was correct when he said Trump's big mouth was nothing but Putin's cock holster. Sorry for the coarse language, but those are Colbert's words, not mine.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)KitSileya
(4,035 posts)Right now, which it did not warn Norway about.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/06/36-russian-warships-sails-out-barents-sea
...
Press-spokesman at Norways military Joint Head Quarters, Major Brynjar Stordal, says to the Barents Observer that Norway was not informed about the naval drill.
«Russian forces in the north has over time had a relatively high level of activities in different fields, something they have all rights to do within own territory and in international waters and airspace.»
Russia is feeling good!
Aristus
(66,462 posts)I want them to come home understanding that defending a nation and caring for a nation need to be the same thing.