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01-17-2017, 01:24 PM
OSLO: Some 300 US Marines landed in **rway on Monday for a six-month deployment, the first time since World War Two that foreign troops have been allowed to be stationed there, in a deployment which has irked **rway’s Arctic neighbour Russia.
Officials played down any link between the operation and Nato concerns over Russia, but the deployment coincides with the US sending several thousand troops to Poland to beef up its Eastern European allies worried about Moscow’s assertiveness.
Soldiers from Camp Lejeune in **rth Carolina landed a little after 10 am CET (0900 GMT) at a s**w-covered Vaernes airport near Trondheim, **rway’s third-largest city, where temperatures were reaching -2 degrees Celsius. US troops are to stay in **rway for a year, with the current batch of Marines being replaced after their six-month tour is complete.
A spokesman for the **rwegian Home Guards, who will host the Marines at the Vaernes military base, about 1,500 km from the Russian border, said the US troops will learn about winter warfare.
"For the first four weeks they will have basic winter training, learn how to cope with skis and to survive in the Arctic environment," said Rune Haarstad, a Home Guard spokesman. "It has **thing to do with Russia or the current situation."
In March the Marines will take part in the Joint Viking exercises, which will also include British troops, he added.
The Russian Embassy in Oslo did **t immediately reply to a request for comment by Reuters on Monday.
It questioned the need for such a move when it was an**unced in October.
"Taking into account multiple statements of **rwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to **rway we would like to understand for what purposes is **rway so ... willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?" it told Reuters at the time. A spokeswoman for **rwegian Ministry of Defence also said the arrival of US Marines had **thing to do with concerns about Russia.
However, in a 2014 interview with Reuters, **rway’s Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said Russia’s annexation of Crimea showed that it had the ability and will to use military means to achieve political goals.
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Officials played down any link between the operation and Nato concerns over Russia, but the deployment coincides with the US sending several thousand troops to Poland to beef up its Eastern European allies worried about Moscow’s assertiveness.
Soldiers from Camp Lejeune in **rth Carolina landed a little after 10 am CET (0900 GMT) at a s**w-covered Vaernes airport near Trondheim, **rway’s third-largest city, where temperatures were reaching -2 degrees Celsius. US troops are to stay in **rway for a year, with the current batch of Marines being replaced after their six-month tour is complete.
A spokesman for the **rwegian Home Guards, who will host the Marines at the Vaernes military base, about 1,500 km from the Russian border, said the US troops will learn about winter warfare.
"For the first four weeks they will have basic winter training, learn how to cope with skis and to survive in the Arctic environment," said Rune Haarstad, a Home Guard spokesman. "It has **thing to do with Russia or the current situation."
In March the Marines will take part in the Joint Viking exercises, which will also include British troops, he added.
The Russian Embassy in Oslo did **t immediately reply to a request for comment by Reuters on Monday.
It questioned the need for such a move when it was an**unced in October.
"Taking into account multiple statements of **rwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to **rway we would like to understand for what purposes is **rway so ... willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?" it told Reuters at the time. A spokeswoman for **rwegian Ministry of Defence also said the arrival of US Marines had **thing to do with concerns about Russia.
However, in a 2014 interview with Reuters, **rway’s Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said Russia’s annexation of Crimea showed that it had the ability and will to use military means to achieve political goals.
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