“Russia’s largest nuclear arsenal is located in the High North, near Norway,” he stated, emphasizing Norway’s continued reliance on NATO for security.
On March 2, the French president announced that Germany, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden agreed to discuss nuclear cooperation with Paris. This may include joint nuclear drills, information sharing, and potentially deploying French nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets in allied countries—a concept termed “forward nuclear deterrence.”
Since then, confidential discussions on the cooperation details have started with some nations, officials told POLITICO.
On Wednesday, Paris and Oslo signed a comprehensive bilateral defense and security deal—the Narvik agreement—including a mutual assistance clause, enhanced military dialogue, and collaboration on air defense, space, and Arctic security, stated Macron. Recently, the French president has aimed to strengthen defense ties with Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
Støre told Norwegian news agency NTB earlier on Wednesday: “We are doing this considering Europe’s security policy situation, including Russia’s significant rearmament in the nuclear domain and its full-scale war against another European country.”
He assured that no nuclear weapons would be stationed on Norwegian soil during peacetime.
Milena Wälde contributed to this report.
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