The police in the streets of Norway have historically remained unarmed. Not so any more. As of today, patrolling police officers will carry gun because of the threat that they could be targeted by terrorists.
President Vladimir Putin confirms that on a new strategic formation will be established on Monday – the Northern Fleet-United Strategic Command. The formation will have as its main objective to defend Russia’s interests in the Arctic.
The most comprehensive and long-standing cooperation the U.S. has in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions might end as Russia says no new projects are envisioned for 2015. “A big setback,” says nuclear physicist Nils Bøhmer with the Bellona Foundation.
With painful memories of the Kursk disaster, the Russian navy has created an emergency chamber on its latest “Severodvinsk” submarine. This weekend, the crew tested it in Zapadnaya Litsa.
Norway’s Armed Forces are establishing a new main base for its helicopters in Bardufoss, Troms county. The base will serve the Coast Guard and maintain Norwegian sovereignty in the High North.
The Russian Navy’s Kirov class nuclear-powered battlecruiser “Admiral Nakhimov” is to undergo overhaul and modernization. When ready for service in 2018, it will become the most powerful surface warship in the world, the designer says.
