At regelen ble myket opp vesentlig i 2017 er nytt for meg. Og for generalløytnnt Rune Jakobsen også virker det som. At regelen bør skrotes skrev jeg her på bloggen da Ukraina krigen var et faktum. (Red.)
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is concerned about the security
situation in Europe following Russia's full-fledged war against Ukraine. Photo:
Thomas Nilsen
Støre: No plans to lift self-imposted restrictions
on NATO activities near border with Russia
A British Air
Force plane was Tuesday flying back-and-forth over the Varanger Fjord a few
nautical miles from Norway’s border with Russia. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr
Støre, however, says to the Barents Observer that there are no plans to change
self-imposed restrictions for NATO flights over the East-Finnmark region.
By
February 08, 2024
Set
during the Cold War, the regulations were aimed at not provoking the Soviet
Union, which based its fleet of nuclear submarines on the coast of the Kola
Peninsula from the early 1960s. For Norway, in those days the only NATO member
in Europe with a direct land border with the USSR, the guiding policy was to
balance between deterrence and reassurance. NATO membership is the pillar of
deterrence and limited military and allied operations near the eastern border
are the reassurance.
“These
are decisions Norway takes as a sovereign country,” PM Jonas Gahr Støre answers
when asked by the Barents Observer if his government has any plans to lift
self-imposed restrictions for NATO flights near the border with Russia.
“I
mean Norway’s policy over time, in the way we act, practice, is predictable,
serve us, serve the allies, serve stability and security in the north,” Støre
states.
Long-term
perspective and predictability are “a very important resource for a country
like Norway with our geography,” the Prime Minister says and makes clear:
“….
we have no plans to change the pattern that is recognizable to Norway.”
The Barents Observer has
previously reported about both U.S. and Swedish air forces making signals
intelligence sorties north in Lapland close to the Kola Peninsula following
Finland’s entry to NATO. Such flights by the Swedish Korpen plane took place
both on February 7 and 8 this week. Last Tuesday, a U.S. Air Force Rivet Joint
made a similar sortie to north of Lake Inari.
Unlike
Norway, Finland didn’t bring any self-imposed restrictions to the table when
joining the North Atlantic alliance in April last year.
Jonas
Gahr Støre says his government is in good dialogue with both Finland and
Sweden.
“We
know each other well about how we act.”
“Now
Finland and Sweden will contribute with their experiences, with their history,
they will be allowed to make their decisions,” Støre says to the Barents
Observer and adds that the two countries have been eager to learn “how Norway
practices its NATO membership.”
“Finland
and Norway are two of three countries in NATO that have a border with Russia
and Finland has, in its process, been concerned with how Norway has managed to
both be a border country, have neighboring relations, and be a NATO member,”
Støre says.
[Editor’s note: This isn’t correct.
There are six NATO countries with land borders to Russia; Norway, Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland].
Last
year, former Chief of Norway’s Joint Headquarters, Lieutenant General Rune
Jakobsen, said in a debate
at Arendalsuka that it is “high time to scrap self-imposed restrictions.”
“High time to scrap”
The
retired Commander argued a new Russia-strategy is needed. “We need to send
stronger signals to Russia, to avoid being exposed to hybrid operations in an area
where we are very vulnerable.”
Lt. Gen. Rune Jakobsen
(left) met with the Commander of Russia’s powerful Northern Fleet, Admiral
Aleksandr Moiseev, in 2019 when the two countries celebrated the 75th
anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of Kirkenes region on the Norwegian
side of the border. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The
Northern Fleet’s ballistic missile submarines based on the Barents Sea coast form a key
leg in Russia’s nuclear deterrence. Also, the new Yasen-class multi-purpose
subs with long-range cruise missiles that can target NATO’s North Atlantic
supply chain have homeport a short 60 km east of the border with Norway.
Of
special interest for NATO is Moscow’s test- and developing program for new
nuclear-powered weapons, the Burevestnik and Poseidon, taking
place in Arctic waters east of Norway.
In
recent weeks, Tu-95 bombers from Olenya Air Base on the Kola Peninsula
have taken a central role in
Russia’s terror bombing of cities in Ukraine, heightening the strategic role of
the northern region in the ongoing war.
“Eyes and ears”
“Norway
will continue to be what I call NATO’s eyes and ears in the north,” Jonas Gahr
Støre says to the Barents Observer.
There
are several military intelligence locations in Norway’s border region to
the Murmansk region, including the Vardø Radar system, and installations both
in Vadsø and outside Kirkenes.
At
sea, the Marjata and Eger intelligence ships gather information about Russian naval operations in
the Barents Sea and northern parts of the Norwegian Sea.
“Marjata” at port in
Kirkenes, the Norwegian border town a few kilometres from Russia. Photo: Thomas
Nilsen
Background from Soviet days
Defense
analyst with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Per Erik
Solli, explains in an OpEd for the Barents Observer how
the restrictions have changed over time during and after the Cold
War.
“In
1995, the Norwegian system had a major revision to easier facilitate allied
training and exercises in Norway. The Ministry of Defense moved away from
calling the regime ‘self-imposed
restrictions’, and instead created more ‘general guidelines‘ for foreign military activity in Norway. For example, allied
land forces were allowed to participate in military exercises in Finnmark, and
the restrictions in Finnmark for foreign military aircraft became far less
restrictive,” Solli writes.
He
elaborates on recent developments:
“The
provisions for foreign military aviation that were in place in 2017 are
publicly available and describe a revised regime that allows foreign military
aircraft to fly east of the 24th meridian. It states that all flights beyond
24° east should be coordinated by the leadership of the Air Force in accordance
with the Ministry of Defense’s ‘Guidelines for foreign military activity in Norway.’ The new provisions allow foreign military
transport and passenger aircraft as well as helicopters, under certain
conditions, to fly throughout almost all of Finnmark, Per Erik Solli explains.
However,
as he notes: “A new buffer zone has been established at 28° east, serving
as an absolute limit for flights with foreign fighter aircraft.”
RAF over the Varanger fjord
Tuesday
evening, a very special sortie took place east of what until now was considered
that limit.
ARCTIC SKIES: From the
cockpit of the military Atlas A400 transport plane currently deployed to
Bardufoss air station in northern Norway. Photo from video by the RAF
The
British aircraft had taken off from Bardufoss airport in Troms and flew to
east Finnmark over Tana at about 29° East. The large four-propelled
transport plane continued further east over land and in the skies above
the Varanger fjord. It flew circles and back-and-forth near both Vadsø and
Vardø, two Norwegian towns at 29°E and 31°E.
No
landing took place, and the flight pattern seemed deliberately to be a military
signalling to neighbouring Russia.
NRK Troms
and Finnmark was the first to report about the flight.
Spokesperson
Reidar Falsnes with the Joint Headquarters links the RAF flight this Tuesday to
the need for allies to train in Norway ahead of exercise Nordic Response.
“Partner
nations, in this case the UK Air Force, want to train and practice in our
areas, and this is something Norway sees as positive,” Falsnes explains.
“That
our partners in and outside NATO framework are familiar with our areas in terms
of geography, weather conditions and so, is an advantage we want to maintain,”
the spokesperson elaborates.
Nordic
Response kicks off in March and
will be the northernmost and largest NATO exercise inside the Arctic Circle
since the days of the Cold War. New of the year is training of reinforcement of
Finland and Sweden via roads and railways from the Norwegian coast.
“In
connection with exercise Nordic Response, it is naturally increased training
activity in all domains. This is both to prepare but also to ensure that safety
is taken care of in the best possible way,” Reidar Falsnes says.
“This
includes several checks on procedures and different types of flight patterns in
different areas.”
The British Atlas A400 that flew in Norwegian airspace close to
Russia’s border over the Varanger fjord this week had take-off from Bardufoss
airport east of Tromsø. Photo from video by RAF
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