Russia threatens to NUKE Norway in response to allowing US Marines to deploy in the country
SOURCE
- Last week Norway agreed to allow 330 US Marines to be based at Værnes
- Russia is furious and Frants Klintsevich said Norway was now fair game
- Klintsevich's views are thought to be in line with those of President Putin's
Norway has
been warned by a senior Russian politician that it could now be a
nuclear target after it allowed for the deployment of 330 US Marines.
Frants
Klintsevich, a deputy chairman of Russia's defence and security
committee, said the deployment of US Marines at Værnes was part of a US
build-up and made Norway fair game in the event of a nuclear
confrontation.
Mr Klintsevich told Russia's TV2 channel the Kremlin viewed the 330 Marines in Norway as a direct military threat.
US Marines joined Norwegian, British
and Dutch and during Exercise Cold Response 16 earlier this year near
Namsos, Norway (pictured)
Half of Russians fear a 'third world war' over Syria
A new poll has found 48 percent of Russians feared worsening relations with the West over Syria could lead to a global war.
But
52 percent of the Russians polled by the Levada Centre supported the
Kremlin's air campaign in support of the Assad regime in Syria and 49
percent think Moscow should continue.
Sixty-four
percent of those polled said they followed the situation in Syria
closely in the media. The survey involved 1,600 adults from 48 different
regions in Russia.
Norway
joined Nato in 1949 but only after giving what was then the Soviet
Union an assurance they would never allow foreign troops to be stationed
there.
The Local newspaper reported Mr Klintsevich said of the deployment of US Marines:'This is very dangerous for Norway and Norwegians.
'How
should we react to this? We have never before had Norway on the list of
targets for our strategic weapons. But if this develops, Norway's
population will suffer.'
'Because
we need to react against definitive military threats. And we have
things to react to, I might as well tell it like it is.'
US Marines fire a rocket during Exercise Cold Response in Norway earlier this year
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Russia has massively increased its
armed forces in Syria in recent weeks as it flexes its muscles while the
US is preoccupied with the presidential elections
Norway's
defence minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, has rejected Russia's criticisms
and said the deployment at Værnes, near Trondheim - about 700 miles
from the Russian border - which is only a test run which will be
reconsidered next year.
She
said: 'There is no objective reason for the Russians to react to this.
But the Russians are reacting at the moment in the same way toward
almost everything the Nato countries are doing.'
Major
General Niel Nelson, commander of US Marine Corps Forces Europe and
Africa, said the deployments would provide an opportunity for the corps
to train directly with Norwegian troops.
'Having a rotational presence in Norway enhances the collective ability of our two forces to work together,' he told the Marine Corps Times.
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President Putin inspecting a guard of
honour at the Heroes of Severomorsk memorial, close to the Norwegian
border, in 2014. Nearly 300 people died when a munitions depot at
Severomorsk exploded in 1984
Unlike
neighbouring Sweden, which passionately defends its neutrality, Norway
has long been a base for Nato troops who require special cold climate
training.
During World War II the country was occupied by the Germans but had an active resistance that worked closely with the British.
In 1944 the Red Army invaded Norway's northernmost province, Finnmark, but handed it over to Norway when the war ended.
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The presence of US troops so close to the Russian border is intensely irritating to Moscow
Meanwhile
Russian submarines have been detected in the Irish Sea as tensions rise
between Moscow and Britain over the Kremlin's aggression in Syria and
Eastern Europe.
A
Russian flotilla of battleships is making its way through the
Mediterranean on its way to support a fresh attack on Aleppo by the
Assad regime, and it is believed the submarines were going to join them.
Relations between Nato and Russia is extremely tense, with both sides accusing the other of making aggressive military moves.
