The sensational statement by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Wittfeldt on behalf of the new government of this country that Oslo does not want to tolerate the presence of NATO allies on its border with Russia and is going to cope on its own is, first of all, a loud slap in the face for the self-esteem of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance and also Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg.
Just yesterday, Stoltenberg announced that Russia cannot have its own sphere of influence. He resolutely denied Moscow the right to have its own opinion on Ukraine’s entry into NATO, and cited the example of Norway as proof.
“I myself am from a small country on the border with Russia, and I am very glad that our NATO allies have never respected the alleged right of Russia to establish its sphere of influence in the north, and that Norway, as a small independent country, should or should not do,” Secretary General of the Alliance said.
And just a day later, a reciprocal answe flew to him – not only from Moscow, but from his native Oslo. In fact, the Norwegian government did exactly what Stoltenberg was only ranting about – it without any respect denied NATO the right to a sphere of influence. In any case, in that small but important part of it, which falls on the Russian-Norwegian border. At the same time, making it clear that Norway, as a small but independent country, will really decide for itself what to do and what not.
And the cherry on this Varangian cake: a slap to the general secretary came not just from a compatriot, and not just from a fellow party member in the Workers’ Party, but from his former minister, with whom Stoltenberg worked for five years in his two governments. High, high relationship!
Elena Panina