Russian envoy accuses NATO of restricting navigation near Arctic routes

Russia’s ambassador to Oslo, Nikolai Korchunov, said that NATO countries are preparing measures amounting to a full or partial blockade of Russia and are placing the Baltic-Arctic region on what he described as a “military footing,” according to comments he gave to Russian media.

“The alliance’s countries, including Norway, are literally putting the Baltic-Arctic region on a ‘barracks footing,’ deploying their ‘sentries’ everywhere (NATO operations ‘Baltic Sentry,’ ‘Eastern Sentry,’ and ‘Arctic Sentry’) and restricting freedom of navigation in violation of international law,” the diplomat said.

Korchunov previously stated that Norway is carrying out military preparations under the pretext of a “Russian threat.” According to him, these measures range from creating conditions for expanding NATO’s presence in the Arctic and making large investments in arms procurement “to the pre-emptive mining of its own bridges, construction of bomb shelters, and constant stressing of its population with warnings about an approaching ‘crisis or war.’”

In his view, escalating tensions around Russia undermine Arctic security and global stability. He added that Norway is creating additional risks for northern regions by turning them into a NATO staging ground for operations against Russia.

Earlier, NATO decided to strengthen its military presence in the Baltic Sea as part of Operation Baltic Sentry, designed to last 90 days. The move followed several incidents involving damage to underwater cables. In connection with one of the cases, Finland detained the oil tanker Eagle S, which had been sailing from St. Petersburg to Port Said. European officials said they suspected involvement by Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, while Moscow rejected those accusations.

By Tamilla Hasanova