Norwegian Reaction to Russian Attack on Ukraine – Siri Neset

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Like several other European countries, Norway has seen shifts in its
foreign and security policy as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine. The
more significant ones are downgrading its diplomatic relations with Russia to a
minimum and changing its laws regarding the sales and export of weapons to a
country in conflict.

Although Ukraine is relatively far from Norway, what Russia does in its
neighborhood is of great concern. Norway has a 195.7-kilometer land border with
Russia and the two countries also border each other’s exclusive economic zones in
the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.

The fast-evolving situation in Ukraine and Russia’s aggressive attack
has led Norway to react with several policy implementations. Many of these align
with the EU, US, NATO, UN, and other international policies since Norway sees
it as vital for the international community to act in unity to support Ukraine
and counter Russian aggression. As a result, the Norwegian government first condemned
the Russian attack on Ukraine at the highest level and with the strongest
wording. While the Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, condemned “Russia’s military attack on Ukraine in the strongest possible terms” on
the day of the first attack and classified it as a “serious violation of
international law (that) will have dramatic consequences for the people of
Ukraine”, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt added that “the attack is unjustified, unprovoked and irresponsible. A clear
breach of international law”. The Norwegian elite, expert community, and people,
in general, have also reacted strongly towards the Russian war on Ukraine and support
the government’s position.

Diplomatic relations

The Russian Ambassador was summoned to a meeting with the Foreign
Minister on the 25^th of February. He was presented with the
Norwegian position on the situation, including that Russia holds full
responsibility for the invasion and that Norway demands Russia to end the
atrocities and withdraw its military forces. In a press conference after the
meeting, the Foreign Minister said that Putin had lied about Russia`s
intentions in Ukraine and the invasion was meaningless.

The Norwegian MFA issued a travel warning on February 27, advising against
all travel to Russia. A week later, on March 5, it announced that Norway was
reducing its contact with the Russian authorities to a minimum due to the
latter’s invasion of Ukraine. Essential
contact with the Russian authorities would, however, continue in areas relating
to maintaining critical public functions and sustainable resource management in
the north. Consequently, the Arctic Council and Barents Euro-Arctic Council are
not functional at the moment. This is a rather dramatic decision as far as
Norway is concerned since the Norwegian policy historically has been to
maintain diplomatic relations with Russia in times of crisis – even during the Cold
War – to enable a de-escalation of the situation.

In the current case, the Norwegian government has also aligned itself
with the sanction policies of the EU and US and has so far acted in accordance
with international institutions and alliances, such as the UN and NATO. Moreover,
the Ministry of Finance informed the Fund Manager
of the central bank of Norway -Norges Bank- on
February 28 to immediately freeze all investments made by the Government
Pension Fund Global (GPFG) – perhaps the world’s
largest sovereign wealth fund. At the beginning of the year, the GPFG had Russian shares at a value of roughly NOK27bn,
roughly 2,75bn Euro. The Ministry has further requested Norges Bank to
prepare a plan for the complete divestment of the Fund from the Russian market.

Military aid/support

Norway also decided to send non-lethal military equipment such as
helmets and bulletproof vests to Ukraine and additional troops to NATO`s
Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in Lithuania.

As for sending defensive weapons to Ukraine, the debate ran high, like in
several other countries, mainly because Norway has since 1959 had a strict
policy on the export of firearms. The guidelines for dealing with
applications concerning the export of defense-related products are based on a
decision from 1959 that makes it clear that an assessment of the foreign and
domestic policy situation in the area in question is required before any
exports are permitted and that Norway will not permit the sale of arms or munitions
to areas where there is a war or the threat of war, or to countries where there
is a civil war. An addendum to this came in 1997, stating that a careful
assessment of the foreign and domestic policy situation in the area in question
and a broad-based evaluation of license applications for the export of defense-related
products are required. Finally, in 2019 a direct reference to international
humanitarian law was included. As such, sending weapons to any conflicting
parties under any circumstances is not easy for Norway.

Even
though the public debate was not as fierce as one may have expected, concerns
were raised as to the fact that Norway would not have reasonable control of the
weapons and where they could end up, perhaps potentially in the hands of Russians
or militias further down the road. Furthermore, what the future consequences
might be of such a sudden change in the policy for Norwegian weapon control
that has been a fundamental norm in regulations for 60 years. Many officials
are also concerned that this change is taking place without a thorough debate
and risk analysis before the decision. There was also a debate within the
expert community about whether sending weapons to Ukraine might lead to an increased
risk of aggression from Russia towards Norway.

Finally, there was a concern that Norwegian weapon export to Ukraine
might affect the perception of Norway as a prominent humanitarian actor and
that it could endanger its humanitarian work around the world and possibly
impact negotiations negatively on humanitarian access to war zones, including
Ukraine. Norway has already provided NOK 250 million -about 25,4 million Euros-
in humanitarian support in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, primarily to
the UN Refugee Agency, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,
and the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. This has now been increased to a total of
NOK 2 billion – 203,5 million Euros.

Nevertheless,
the Norwegian government decided on February 28 that it would donate 2.000 M72 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine “to defend
itself against the military attack from Russia” PM Støre added that, although “Norway has a restrictive policy concerning the export
of defense-related products”, it is aligning its actions with its close allies
and the other Nordic countries as “Ukraine is now in a desperate and
extraordinary situation”.

Closing of Norwegian
airspace and Norwegian ports

Norway closed its airspace for
Russian flights on February 28 and extended this ban to Svalbard and Jan Mayen
– Norway’s territories in the Arctic Ocean on March 1. The restricted area
includes the airspace over the Norwegian territorial waters and applies to all aircraft operated by Russian air carriers,
including marketing carriers in code-sharing or blocked-space arrangements, or
for any Russian registered aircraft, or any non-Russian-registered aircraft
that is owned or chartered or otherwise controlled by any Russian natural or
legal person, entity or body.

The
banning of Russian ships from European ports is currently being discussed in
Europe, and some countries have already adopted a few restrictions. In Norway,
this has so far not been discussed much publicly. Still, the Minister of
Fisheries and Ocean Policy stated that Norwegian ports would not be closed to
Russian ships. But the debate is now rising in the Norwegian media, and the
opposition is criticizing the government. The background for the Minister`s reluctance
is said to be the critical environmental cooperation between Russia and Norway
in the Barents Sea to safeguard the ecosystem, including the fish population.
However, as some news agencies have reported, it also has
to do with the vital fishing industry in the north and the intertwined
interests of Russia and Norway therein.

Other Areas of Contact

Equinor, Norway`s largest energy company, has, in addition to acting in
compliance with Norwegian, EU, and US sanctions, decided to stop new
investments into Russia and to start the process of exiting Equinor’s Russian
Joint Ventures. Equinor has been in Russia for over 30 years and entered a
cooperation agreement with Rosneft in 2012. Similarly, Hydro announced that it will not enter into new contracts with Russian
producers until further notice. It evaluates existing commitments’
options, including a potential freeze of commercial relationships with Russian
counterparts.

Other Norwegian major international companies like Telenor and
Statskraft have not commented on the situation or their dealings with Russia.
Yara, however, is highlighting the issue of food security and asking the
international community to do more in this regard and, at the same time, lower
the dependence on Russian supplies. Some private businesses in Norway have also
initiated different boycotts of Russian goods and services.

Norwegian ski federation has banned Russian and Belarus athletes from
participating in competitions in Norway, and the Norwegian Olympic and
Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports have been working towards
their international headquarters to suspend all Russian and Belarus athletes
from entering the international competition as well as Russian are suspended
from holding positions within different international sports organizations. 

Within different interest organizations in the culture sector, there is
an ongoing discussion regarding a boycott of Russia. That is, whether a sanction
should be implemented for Russian theatre, opera, and art from performing in
Norway and Russian artists from displaying their art.

Finally, about 1000 Ukrainian refugees have entered Norway as of March
11, and the government is preparing for many more to come. On March 4^th,
the government decided to offer temporary collective protection to Ukrainians,
which provides an exemption from individual assessment and allows protection to
an entire group of people. It practically means that displaced Ukrainians will
not have to undergo a time-consuming process of individually reviewing their
cases. The last time this was done in Norway was during the Kosovo conflict in
the late 1990s.

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All in all, the reaction to the Russian war on Ukraine has been
forceful, swift, and largely united the government, elite and expert
communities, private business and culture institutions, as well as the general
public. Moving forward, the debate regarding Norwegian ports might very well be
next in line. However, it most likely will be one of the more difficult discussions
given the potentially high impact on the fish industry and potential risks
regarding the highly vulnerable ecosystem in the Barents Sea, where Russian and
Norwegian interests are intertwined.

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To cite this work : Siri Neset, “Norwegian Reaction to Russian Attack on Ukraine”, Panorama, Online , 13 March 2022, https://www.uikpanorama.com/blog/2022/03/03/putin-yol/

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