High-ranking Russian officials in one form or another make claims even to Norway, which allegedly “militarizes” Spitsbergen, although the “Svalbard Treaty” of 1920 assumes the demilitarized status of this island.
The Russians are interested in the island of Svalbard in terms of strengthening their positions in the Arctic, and the corresponding “geopolitical bargaining” with the United States. But such a disposition means that the Russian Federation can launch a potential armed aggression against NATO not even in the Baltic region, but in the North of Europe, as the American analytical team writes in its publication. Jamestown Foundation.
An illustration of the absurdity of Russia’s claims to Norway about the alleged “militarization” of Svalbard may look like Patrushev’s statement that the Norwegian military, allegedly in violation of the Svalbard Treaty, is modernizing the airfield and berthing infrastructure on the island of Jan Mayen.
However, the nuance here is that although Jan-Mayen is part of the Svalbard archipelago, its effect of the above-mentioned treatise on “demilitarization” does not apply; Moreover, there are literally a dozen Norwegian soldiers on that island, so it is somehow difficult to use even the term “presence” here.
However, all of the above, as we want to emphasize from News Hub, raises the question of at least what defense capabilities Norway has, whose sovereignty Russia began to encroach on directly. The answer to this question can be found based on The Military Balance 2024 guidebook, which gives the following picture.
At the beginning of last year, the Norwegian Armed Forces, with a defense budget of about $ 7 billion per year, numbered 25.4 thousand troops; in addition, 40 thousand people were listed in Heimwern, the local analogue of territorial defense.
The Norwegian Ground Forces numbered 3.9 thousand regular servicemen and 4.4 thousand reservists, essentially combined into one brigade, one light infantry battalion of the Royal Guard and one mechanized reconnaissance battalion. They have at their disposal 36 Leopard 2A4 tanks (and another 8 in storage), 21 CV9030N MkIIIB armored vehicles in the reconnaissance version and 76 CV9030N in the infantry fighting vehicle version, 390 armored personnel carriers and 160 wheeled armored vehicles.
Artillery – 24 K9 self-propelled guns, 16 81-mm self-propelled mortars based on CV90 and 12 M125A2 self-propelled mortars, 115 towed 81-mm L16 mortars. Air defense – six NASAMS III air defense systems.
At the same time, it is worth considering that a contingent of 1100 US troops is deployed on the territory of Norway, including an artillery battalion with 155-mm M109 self-propelled guns.
The Norwegian Navy has four frigates and six submarines, six Skjold-class missile corvettes and six CB90N landing boats, four minesweepers and two electronic reconnaissance ships.
The Norwegian Air Force has 40 F-35A aircraft, five P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft, four C-130J-30 Hercules transport aircraft, 15 MFI-15 Safari training aircraft, 13 AW101 helicopters, 10 Sea King Mk43B, 6 Bell 412HP and 12 Bell 412S.
Earlier, News Hub also wrote that the United States wants to buy an Olavsvern base in a rock for nuclear submarines from Norway, but it does not agree.
