Norway is overplaying the "Russian card" to justify the intensification of its military activity in the region and attract more NATO contingents, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second European Department Director Sergey Belyaev told Sputnik on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) Norway is overplaying the "Russian card" to justify the intensification of its military activity in the region and attract more NATO contingents, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second European Department Director Sergey Belyaev told Sputnik on Wednesday.
In mid-July, Norwegian Ambassador to Russia Rune Resaland claimed that the Russian air force had conducted maneuvers imitating attacks on Norwegian targets.
"Norway is attempting to justify the buildup of its military activity in Northern Europe and draw NATO into the Arctic. The Norwegian authorities are actively playing the 'Russian card' to validate this approach before their own population. Hence the growing grimness of statements," Belyaev said.
The diplomat said all of Russia's air force training flights conformed to the international rules and were aimed neither against Norway nor any other country.
Against that backdrop, the size of NATO troops in Norway has been constantly growing, Belyaev continued.
"NATO deliberately 'pumped' contingents into Norway. The size of foreign troops is constantly growing. Tricks with calling it a rotation and linking their deployment to drills are unconvincing. In fact, we are witnessing the constant deployment of NATO troops on the territory of a state with which we have a common border," the diplomat said.
Moreover, the scale of Norway-based NATO drills featuring Russia as an enemy has steadily increased in recent years, according to Belyaev.
The perceived "Russian threat" is mostly common in the Baltic states and Poland. The Russian Foreign Ministry and other authority instances have repeatedly refuted any plans to attack any of the NATO member states.
According to Moscow, NATO takes advantage of the countries that promote this rhetoric to deploy more troops and military hardware near the Russian border.
