By Gwladys Fouche
OSLO, Jan 21 (Reuters) – The situation in NATO is difficult due to the crisis over Greenland, but western allies must remember their common adversary is Russia, which is increasing its military presence in the Arctic, Norway’s defence minister said on Wednesday.
“These are demanding times. The situation in NATO is difficult,” Tore Sandvik told a meeting with foreign correspondents in Oslo.
“The dimensional threat for the West, for NATO, (for) all members of NATO, still is Russia,” he said.
Sandvik was speaking as the Western military alliance is fraying under the pressure of U.S. President Donald Trump’s relentless push to acquire Greenland from fellow NATO ally Denmark.
Trump will later on Wednesday attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to renew his demands.
NATO-member Norway and Russia share a border in the Arctic.
On land, Norway spies on military installations on the Kola Peninsula, which hosts about two-thirds of Russia’s second-strike nuclear capabilities – its ability to answer a nuclear attack with its own.
The area is also home to Russia’s Northern Fleet, headquartered in Severomorsk, which operates six of the country’s 12 nuclear-armed submarines.
The only way for the Northern Fleet to access the North Atlantic is via the shallow waters of the Barents Sea, between the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago and the northern coast of Europe.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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