Russia puzzled at Norway’s decision to allow stationing of U.S. troops in 2017

OSLO/BRUSSELS — Russia is puzzled at the decision by its neighbor Norway to allow U.S. troops to be stationed on its soil from next year, a Russian embassy official said on Tuesday.

Oslo said on Monday it would allow some 330 U.S. Marines to be billeted temporarily at the Vaernes military base in central Norway from January, the first foreign troops allowed to be posted on its territory since the end of World War II.

[Some 330 U.S. Marines to be temporarily stationed in Norway in 2017]

NATO-member Norway and Russia share a border in the Arctic. For the past seven decades Oslo has had a policy of not allowing foreign troops to be stationed on its territory, although foreign NATO soldiers often conduct military exercises with local troops.

The Russian embassy in Oslo said: “Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so much willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?”

“The policy of non-stationing, which even withstood the test of the Cold War, has always been an advantage for Norway as a partner over other NATO countries,” an embassy spokesman said in an emailed statement, adding that Russia would “like to have the conclusive clarification of parameters, motives and aims” of the decision.

Norway did not specifically mention a Russian military threat when announcing the move on Monday. In a 2014 interview with Reuters, Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said Russia’s annexation of Crimea showed that it had the ability and will to use military means to achieve political goals.

[EARLIER: 300 US Marines could be based in Norway in a plan under consideration by both nations]

In Brussels, the U.S. ambassador to NATO said the deployment was a part of a “bilateral arrangement between U.S. and Norway that goes back decades” and “not a NATO force.”

“It is an upgrade, an increase in activity. As the U.S. designs its national contributions across Europe, we want to have a very balanced approach,” Douglas Lute told a news conference.

“We think a land presence in Norway, which opens opportunities for increased training … also makes sense. The Marines will get some good cold weather training.”