The Russians have been sending fighter jets near Norwegian air space for months. Now some of their submarines have been tracked near territorial waters.
Norway's Defense Ministry isn't especially worried about the Russian submarines spotted near Norwegian territory.
Norwegian officials have attributed the flights to an apparent need by the Russians to show renewed strength. They're not particularly alarmed over the emergence of the submarines as well.
"They showing off both a will and an ability to be a super power to be reckoned with," State Secretary Espen Barth Eide in the Defense Ministry told newspaper Aftenposten. "The u-boats are a Russian comment to the day's international themes."
Among those "themes" are the US' controversial plans to place a rocket shield system on the European continent. The Russians vigorously oppose the plans, and Barth Eide believes the dispatch of fighter jets and submarines is part of the official response.
The "comment," Barth Eide said, "isn't directed at any one country, and not at us (Norway)."
Norwegian Orion suveillance flights have determined that Russian subs are active just off Norwegian territory. The Orion aircraft can localize the subs, whose crews become aware that they've been spotted.
The dispatch of fighter jets and especially submarines was a common Soviet tactic during the Cold War, and awakens uncomfortable memories among many Norwegians. Barth Eide downplayed any threat.
"I don't view the heightened Russian activity as alarming," he said.
