NATO Must Keep Presence on All Flanks, Norway’s Defense Minister Says

NATO must avoid any retrenchment along the flanks of the military bloc to maintain credible deterrence against Russian aggression at the time when the US is focused on the war in the Middle East, according to the Norwegian defense minister.

The visibility of Norway’s defense forces in the Arctic and elsewhere in its neighborhood is critical, Tore O. Sandvik said in an interview in Oslo on Friday, highlighting that the fossil-fuel-rich nation supplies almost 40% of Europe’s natural gas as the Iran war is disrupting global energy supplies.