NATO expands Baltic-Arctic militarization — Russian ambassador to Norway

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. NATO is increasing its military presence and the intensity of its maneuvers in the Baltic Sea, the Arctic, and Northern Europe, Russian Ambassador to Oslo Nikolay Korchunov told TASS in an interview.

"The NATO-launched framework military initiatives - Baltic Sentry, Eastern Sentry, and Arctic Sentry - are an illustrative symptom of NATO’s overall negative tendency to militarize the Baltic-Arctic region and its de facto transition to a war footing," he noted.

The diplomat emphasized that "over the past years, NATO, including Norway, has rapidly - according to their assessments, in several regions even doubled - stepped up its military presence and the intensity of its educational and operational activity in the northern latitudes." "Finland and Sweden have become the alliance’s member states and are actively joining its regional plans," he pointed out. "Northern European countries have seen an increase in the number of US military bases and NATO command centers," Korchunov stressed.

The ambassador also noted that "non-regional members of the blocs are advancing further into" the Arctic with Oslo's help. "This is taking place against the backdrop of the far-fetched threat of Russia, which has now been joined by China," he pointed out. "In this sense, the March drills in Norway’s and Finland’s northern regions dubbed Cold Response, involving 32,500 servicemen from 14 NATO countries, the largest military preparation event in Europe this year, is illustrative," Korchunov concluded.