(Oslo) The United Kingdom will strengthen its military presence in the Arctic, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Tuesday amid heightened concerns following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Posted at 10:53 a.m.
The Far North “is important for our communications”, “for our trade and our travels” and “for our freedoms”, underlined Mr. Wallace during a press conference on the base of Bardufoss (north) where he returned visit to troops taking part in major military exercises.
Britain’s new strategy in the region will involve more surveillance ‘at sea and on land’, ‘a ship to protect our infrastructure, the cables that Russia is targeting to make us vulnerable’ and more anti-submarine defence, said the British minister.
A force of Royal Marines will be “de facto permanently” active in the Nordic countries, notably carrying out exercises in Norway, Sweden or Finland, he added.
For his part, his Norwegian counterpart Odd Roger Enoksen recalled that his country, a NATO member and neighbor of Russia, wanted “more activities from the allies in the north”, while stressing that the United Kingdom was ” our most important ally in Europe”.
Some 30,000 soldiers from 25 NATO countries, but also from Sweden and Finland, two close partners of the Alliance, are currently training in Norway.
Planned for a long time, the Cold Response 2022 exercise aims to test the ability of allies to defend one of their own in the event of aggression, in extreme cold in a difficult environment, a capability whose relevance has been underlined by the Russian military offensive against Ukraine.