The Barents Observer -While Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Tuesday had her first visit to Russia in five years, meeting President Vladimir Putin at the Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg, the Russian Northern Fleet’s two largest missile cruisers could be preparing for a missile drill outside Northern Norway.
“We register that they have established an NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) 100 nautical miles northwest of Lofoten,” says Lt. Col. Ivar Moen, spokesman for the Norwegian Armed Forces’ operational headquarters.
“They have their full right to do so as this is international waters and airspace,” he says in a phone conversation with the Barents Observer.
This is, however, a new pattern of exercising not seen before by the Russian Northern Fleet. Both during the Cold War and in post-Soviet times, navy drills with live shootings have traditionally taken place in the Barents Sea, north and east of the Kola Peninsula.
The NOTAM issued by the main Air Traffic Management Centre of Russia is valid for the period April 11 to 14, from 3 am to 7 pm, the time when it is daylight this period of the year. The warning says danger area is up to 66,000 feet.
