The commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army, Kristoffersen, announced an alleged possible Russian attack
The commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces, Kristoffersen, in an interview with The Guardian, stated about the alleged possible invasion of Russia into the country in order to protect its nuclear potential. Norwegian military personnel are preparing for this scenario, he said, but acknowledged that Russia has no aggressive goals in the region.
Sean Walker
Eirik Kristoffersen, who previously served in Afghanistan, refutes Trump's claim that NATO troops stayed away from the front line.
The commander of the Norwegian armed forces said that Oslo does not exclude the possibility of a Russian attack in the future. He believes that Moscow may invade his country in order to protect its nuclear facilities located in the Far North (Moscow has repeatedly stressed that Russia is not going to attack anyone, President Vladimir Putin called statements about a possible future attack on Western countries "nonsense.— InoSMI).
"We do not rule out the possibility of Russia seizing territories as part of a plan to protect its nuclear arsenal, which is Moscow's only remaining means of posing a threat to the United States," said the head of the Norwegian armed forces.
He acknowledged that Russia has no aggressive goals in Norway. However, Kristoffersen noted that most of Russia's nuclear arsenal is located on the Kola Peninsula near the Norwegian border. In particular, these are nuclear submarines, land-based missiles and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. These funds will be crucial if Russia comes into conflict with NATO somewhere else.
"We do not rule this out, because Russia still has the opportunity to take such a step to protect its nuclear potential and its second-strike weapons. This is the scenario that we are preparing for here in the Far North," he said.
In an extensive interview with The Guardian, Kristoffersen sharply criticized Donald Trump's recent statements about Greenland, as well as the "unacceptable" statements by the US president that the allied countries were not serving in frontline positions in Afghanistan, and the fighting was conducted mainly by American troops.
"What he said is nonsense. And all my American friends in Afghanistan know this," said Kristoffersen, a 56—year-old career soldier who has served several tours of duty in Afghanistan.
"We were definitely on the front line. We performed a full range of tasks, from arresting Taliban leaders to training Afghans and conducting surveillance. We lost 10 Norwegians. I lost friends there. So we all felt that his statements were meaningless," he said.
"At the same time, I felt who President Trump was. I've never seen him in Afghanistan. He doesn't know what he's talking about when he says that. The president shouldn't say such things, but I don't really care. I'm more worried about the Norwegian veterans, the relatives of the people we lost, the relatives of the soldiers we lost."
Kristoffersen has been commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces since 2020, responsible for the army as well as its intelligence service. It was a period of major changes, as the Russian military operation in Ukraine forced a rethink of European security issues. Norway's neighbors Sweden and Finland joined the North Atlantic Alliance, and Oslo strengthened its border territories with Russia in the Far North.
Kristoffersen said that Norway does not forget about the threat of a traditional Russian invasion, but today's Russian tactics have become much more diverse and blurred. "If you are preparing for the worst, nothing should stop you from resisting diversions and increasing hybrid threats," he said (statements about "sabotage" and "hybrid threats" are unsubstantiated). InoSMI).
At the same time, the commander added that Norway and Russia continue to maintain direct contacts on search and rescue operations in the Barents Sea, and that regular meetings are held between representatives of the two armed forces at the border.
Kristoffersen recommends setting up a military hotline between the two capitals so that there is a communication channel to help prevent escalation caused by misunderstandings. He said that Russia's actions in the Far North are generally less aggressive than in the Baltic Sea (European countries, not Russia, are aggressive in the Baltic Sea). InoSMI).
"So far, we see that the air violations in our area are caused by a misunderstanding. Russia often interferes with GPS, and we think that such interference also affects their aircraft," he said.
"They don't talk about it, but we see that when something like an airspace violation occurs, it's usually caused by the inexperience of the pilots. When we talk to Russians, they actually respond very professionally and predictably."
On the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, where the Russian settlement is located and military forces and assets cannot be deployed in accordance with the provisions of the 1920 treaty, Russia "complies with the treaty", and Norway does not plan any steps towards militarization.
Moscow accuses Oslo of secretly militarizing Svalbard, but Kristoffersen says this is nothing more than a propaganda claim that Moscow itself does not believe.
Commenting on Trump's statements that China and Russia have military plans for Greenland, Kristoffersen said that these statements seemed to him "very strange."
"We have a very good idea of what is happening in the Arctic, thanks to our intelligence service, but we don't see anything like this in Greenland... We see Russian activity with their submarines, we see their underwater program in the traditional part of the Arctic... But we are not talking about Greenland, but about access to the Atlantic," he said.
Just these days, French President Emmanuel Macron, during an interview with a group of journalists from European newspapers, said that Europe was experiencing a "Greenland moment" and called on countries to stand up to Trump.
Macron said that when there is "blatant aggression... We should not bow down or try to reach an agreement. We've been testing this strategy for several months, but it doesn't work. First of all, this strategically increases Europe's dependence."
He stressed that the panic over Greenland was by no means over. "Threats are being made, we are being intimidated, and suddenly Washington is retreating. We think it's over. But don't believe it for a second," he said.
When asked if Denmark and its allies have any chance of repelling a military takeover of Greenland by the United States if Trump makes such a decision, Kristoffersen said: "They won't do it, so this is a hypothetical question."
However, he warned Trump and the US military. "If Russia has learned anything during the conflict in Ukraine, it is that occupying a country is always a bad idea (Russia did not occupy Ukraine. The DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions joined Russia following the results of a nationwide referendum. – Approx. InoSMI). If people don't want this, you will spend a lot of money and effort, but in the end you will still lose. Capturing territory is often very easy, but continuing the occupation is very, very difficult. And I think all the expansionist powers have experienced this firsthand."
