Russia has threatened to target American Tomahawk systems in Norway
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to Norway following reports that a system capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles had been deployed in the country, describing this as destabilising actions by NATO.
This was stated by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, as quoted by the Russian news agency ‘Interfax’, according to Censor.NET.
Threats from Russia
Zakharova stated that Russia regards the deployment in Norway of US systems capable of launching medium- and short-range missiles as "yet another step in an endless series of highly destabilising actions by NATO countries".
The spokeswoman also stated that these systems can be used to launch long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, and that their deployment in Norway enables them to ‘cover’ a significant part of the European part of Russia, including Moscow.
"In this regard, it should come as no surprise to those in Washington and Oslo who took the decision to deploy the aforementioned systems in Norway, it should come as no surprise that, as part of Russia’s countermeasures, the deployment sites and command and control centres of the American systems, as well as the infrastructure supporting them, are becoming the focus of particular attention from the Russian Federation’s strategic deterrence forces, which includes planning for the combat use of appropriate strike capabilities in the event of an armed conflict", Zakharova added.
Context
- As a reminder, on 2 September, Norway seized the Russian vessel *Professor Molchanov* in the port of Barentsburg at the request of the Ukrainian state-owned company *Naftogaz*. Following this, Zakharova expressed her outrage at Norway’s decision.
