Teenagers in northern Norway will be trained in security and emergency preparedness in case neighboring Russia attacks the region.
Starting in the fall of 2025, teenagers in the Finnmark region and Troms County in northern Norway will have a new subject added to their schedule: War preparedness courses.
These measures are part of the proposals from the governors of Troms and Finnmark counties, the police, and the Norwegian defense forces to strengthen societal preparedness in case of an attack from Russia.
“We believe that starting with the youth is the best way forward. They could be a very important resource for themselves, their families, and the local community,” said Elisabeth Aspaker, governor of Troms County, to Norwegian media outlet NRK. “The training will allow students to better understand the threat situation and teach them to take care of themselves.”
The youth will also learn to sharpen their critical thinking skills in the face of influence operations conducted by other countries and “fake news,” Aspaker explained. “We also believe that young people should be able to work in various types of support functions within a municipality, which will need to adapt and take on a range of tasks in a crisis,” she added.
Several reasons explain the launch of this pilot project in northern Norway.
Firstly, the proximity of these territories to Russia — the two countries share a nearly 200-kilometer border in the Arctic — but also a small and aging population. “Norwegian defense is undergoing modernization. Therefore, it is necessary to have an even stronger civil society than we have today,” specified Jonas Gahr Store, Norwegian Prime Minister, to NRK.
“Nordic Response”
Indeed, last March, Jonas Gahr Store announced his intention to increase the country’s annual defense spending to reach 2% of its gross domestic product. Norway was initially set to achieve this goal by 2026, but will do so sooner than planned, given the potential threat posed by a “dangerous and unpredictable” Russia, according to the Prime Minister.
The defense budget for 2024, which was initially set at around 8.75 billion dollars, was revised upward as part of a finance bill, Store said, without providing a specific figure. In 2022, Norway’s defense budget represented 1.57% of the country’s GDP, according to NATO.
The large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 raised many concerns among Scandinavian countries, neighbors of Russia. Denmark announced similar plans a few months ago, stating it would increase its defense budget by 5.9 billion dollars over the next five years.
In March, an unprecedented joint NATO defense exercise involving over 20,000 soldiers from 13 countries was launched in northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The training, previously known as “Cold Response,” was held every two years in northern Norway, a founding member of NATO. In recognition of Finland and Sweden’s recent membership in the Western military alliance, the exercise was renamed “Nordic Response” for the first time this year.
“We must be able to respond and stop anyone trying to challenge our borders, our values, and our democracy. Given the current security situation in Europe, this exercise is extremely relevant and more important than ever,” said Brigadier Tron Strand, commander of the Norwegian Air Operations Center, in a NATO statement.
“Everyone must mentally prepare”
In January, senior Swedish government and defense officials explicitly warned the population that war could break out at any moment in Sweden and that every Swede must be ready. Carl-Oscar Bohlin, Minister of Civil Defense, declared in an official speech to a stunned audience that “war could come to Sweden” and that the small Nordic nation of 10.4 million people must prepare quickly.
The commander-in-chief of the Swedish military, Micael Bydén, added fuel to the fire by warning the same audience that “Russia’s war against Ukraine is just a stage, not an end in itself. We must realize the seriousness of the situation and everyone, individually, must mentally prepare,” he added.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Scandinavian and Baltic authorities have noted an increase in cyberattacks and violations of their airspace. Norwegian airports temporarily closed for several hours after several sightings of supposed Russian drones flying over the area in 2022. This year, a large area over the Baltic Sea has experienced several incidents of GPS jamming, causing multiple planes to lose their satellite-derived navigation signals. Germany then declared that Russia was most likely behind this series of disruptions.
Last February, during a conference in support of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out the possibility of sending ground troops, stating that France “will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz quickly rejected the possibility of sending European troops to the Ukrainian front, as mentioned by the French President.
More recently, addressing lawmakers during a Q&A session in the German Parliament, the country’s Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, stated that Germany must be “ready for war” by 2029. “Russia has moved to a war economy and continues its rearmament. We should not believe that Putin will stop at Ukraine’s borders if he gets his way,” he said.
