Norway beefs up its annual military budget by an additional 300 million euros
Norwegian soldiers during a NATO Cold Response exercise in 2014 (Illustration image).
© TORBJORN KJOSVOLD/AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The Norwegian government announced on Friday March 18 that it would release more than 300 million additional euros in its annual budget for its army.
In Oslo, as in the other Nordic countries, very close to Russia, Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine has moved the lines.
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Norway is the guardian of the northern borders of the Atlantic Alliance.
It shares 200 kilometers of land border with Russia, not counting the maritime border in the Barents Sea.
As for the general secretary of the politico-military organisation, Jens Stoltenberg, he is a Norwegian.
Precisely, Oslo wants to show Moscow that the Norwegians are ready for any eventuality, explains our regional correspondent,
Frédéric Faux
.
Since the beginning of the week, the Nordic kingdom has hosted
major NATO military maneuvers
, with 30,000 soldiers from 27 countries.
And this Friday, he announced an additional envelope of 300 million euros for his military budget.
“
Even if a Russian attack against Norway is not probable
, declared its Defense Minister, Odd Roger Enoksen,
it is necessary to realize that we have a neighbor in the East which has become more dangerous, and more unpredictable.
»
The Nordic countries are sharpening their weapons
The additional budget envelope will be used to increase the presence of the navy in the north, to intensify the training of the active army and the reserve, to increase the stocks of ammunition, fuel and other critical equipment, to improve the reception facilities for allied troops and to strengthen cyber defense and intelligence.
A reasoning that is also held by other Nordic countries.
Sweden has just announced that it will increase its military budget to 2% of GDP as soon as possible.
The same commotion in Denmark, another member of NATO, which hopes to achieve this objective by 2033. As for Sweden and Finland, they are not members of NATO.
►Also read: Finns and Swedes now in favor of joining NATO
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