Norway today announced the deployment of “50-60 additional troops” to Lithuania, increasing its contribution to NATO troops in that country amid escalating tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine.
“We want to contribute to the Alliance’s enhanced presence and the security of the Baltic states to show solidarity with our allies,” Norwegian Defense Minister Odd Roger Enoxen told a news conference.
These troops are being deployed in Lithuania initially for a period of three months, which can be renewed, and are added to the 140 Norwegian troops already in the country, under German command, as part of the NATO mission.
Other countries in the Alliance have also sent aid.
“Maybe a Russian attack on Ukraine is imminent,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Aniken Heufeld said in the same press conference.
“We are grateful to Norway for its significant contribution to regional security,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvinda Anusauskas said in a statement.
For his part, Enoksen said that while Norway was concerned about tensions between the West and Russia, it saw no indication that any conflict would spread to the Arctic, where the country borders Russia.
Norwegian officials have long worried that the conflict between NATO and Russia could spread to the Arctic, where both Oslo and Moscow have increased their military presence in recent years.
“We believe that it is in Russia’s interest to isolate the conflict in Ukraine (if it erupts) and we see no signs of escalation in the north that the conflict will spread there,” Enoksen said in an interview.
Next month, about 35,000 troops from 28 countries, mostly NATO members, will be taking part in long-planned military exercises in Norway to train in cold weather.
Russian observers have been invited to these high schools, but it is unclear whether they will attend.
Russia plans to conduct naval exercises in the North Arctic in the coming weeks.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Source: Capital
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