Russia promises to retaliate if US builds radar station in Norway
When the American radar station has been completed on the Norwegian island of Vardø in the Barents Sea not far from the Russian border, Moscow will take retaliatory steps, promised Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova during a press conference, RIA Novosti reports.
She noted that the Globus II station under construction on Vardø Island is only 50 km from Russia’s border, and will be used by Norway’s military intelligence.
“It is not really a secret for anyone that the obtained information will be forwarded directly to the US… We have raised this issue regularly with Norway, but the Norwegian officials avoid explaining what purposes the upgraded station will be used for,” Zakharova observed.
She stressed that Moscow has every reason to assume that the station will be used to monitor Russia.
“It seems obvious to me that military preparations close to the Russian borders – whether the Russian border or another border – such preparations cannot be ignored by our country, just like any other country,” she concluded.
The Globus II radar has prompted intergovernmental discussion before. In February, Morten Haga Lunde, Head of the Norwegian Intelligence Services, said that 11 Russian Su-24 fighters had scrambled in Russia’s Murmansk province, flown to the Barents Sea and simulated an attack against the military radar in the Vardø region. Lunde added that this had happened before, too.