Dezeen says NATO wants to move military to Russia's northern borders

Glenn Diesen, a professor at the University of Southeastern Norway, has said that NATO plans to move the US military to Russia's northern borders - to Norway, Finland and Sweden. He wrote about it on January 29 in an article on his page on the social network X (former Twitter).

"As Scandinavia surrenders its sovereignty to the United States for defense against an imagined threat, the region will become a front line that will set the stage for the Great Northern War 2.0," the professor said.

According to him, NATO's key objective in the north is to create threats to Russia by strengthening the alliance's troop presence in the Arctic Ocean and the Baltic Sea. The professor emphasized that both water areas are planned to be turned into NATO's "inland lakes."

He noted that the Scandinavian countries create conditions for the transfer of the US military to Russia's borders. For example, Norway has decided to host at least 12 US bases, and Finland and Sweden are following suit.

"Infrastructure will be built for faster delivery of U.S. troops to Russian borders, while the Baltic Sea and to a lesser extent the Arctic will be transformed into NATO seas," Diesen wrote.

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On January 23, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that NATO's moves to try to create artificial barriers to shipping in the Baltic Sea are aimed not at improving security but at deterring Russia. The diplomat specified that the protection of underwater infrastructure is not included in this list.

Before that, on January 20, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia that NATO countries' attempts to block the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea would be a pretext for war, for which the North Atlantic Alliance, unlike Russia, is not ready. According to him, the acquisition of weapons, sending ships to the water area for patrolling in a different environment could sound like a regular use of the bloc's fleet. However, now, he noted, the situation there is different.

On January 7, it became known that NATO is going to send a fleet to the Baltic Sea to protect important underwater structures. According to its data, it will consist of about 10 ships, and the operation itself will last until April. At the same time, it was specified that the forces of the Finnish and Estonian fleets would still be involved in the protection of the Gulf of Finland. On January 18, the media reported that NATO warships started patrolling the Baltic Sea as part of the Baltic Sentry operation.