Norway’s Defense Minister Tore Sandvik warned that Russia is amassing nuclear weapons and attack submarines in the Arctic Circle as part of preparations for a potential conflict with NATO.
In an interview published Oct. 24 by The Telegraph, Sandvik said Russian forces are significantly increasing their military presence on the Kola Peninsula, home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of nuclear warheads and the core base of the Northern Fleet.
“Russia is building up on the Kola Peninsula… where one of the largest arsenals of nuclear warheads in the world is located,” Sandvik said. The buildup includes nuclear-powered submarines, warheads, and advanced systems like hypersonic missiles and nuclear torpedoes, he added.
According to Sandvik, the escalation is part of Russia’s strategy to control strategic maritime choke points such as the Bear Gap between Svalbard and mainland Norway, and the GIUK Gap linking Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom.
These positions would allow Moscow to block NATO’s access to the Arctic in the event of war.
“They [the nuclear weapons] are not only pointed towards Norway, but towards the UK and over the pole towards Canada and the US,” Sandvik said. “We are the eyes and ears of NATO in this area, and we see that they’re testing new weapons, for example hypersonic missiles, and they are testing nuclear-driven torpedoes and nuclear warheads.”
The Kola Peninsula’s concentration of nuclear weapons gives the Kremlin a critical “second-strike” capability – the ability to launch a retaliatory nuclear attack even after suffering an initial strike.
In response, Norway has been bolstering its defenses. In August, the country established the Finnmark Brigade near its border with Russia, calling it “a necessary response to a more dangerous and unpredictable Russia.”
The move aligns with NATO’s growing focus on Arctic defense, including expanded US P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol deployments from Norwegian bases.
Reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Reuters confirm Russia’s long-term military buildup in the Kola region, including modernized S-400 air defense systems, electronic warfare installations such as the Murmansk-BN, and new Borey- and Yasen-class submarines. The region now hosts roughly 11 nuclear-capable submarines, three times NATO’s Arctic undersea presence.
Moscow insists that its Arctic activities are defensive, characterizing the buildup as protection of sovereign territory in response to NATO’s northward expansion and Finland and Sweden’s accession to the alliance in 2023 and 2024.
The warning from Norway demonstrates the growing volatility of the Arctic, as access becomes an increasingly contested front in the struggle between Russia and NATO.
3 thoughts on “Russia building up nuclear weapons along Arctic route: Report”
AK907 is certainly the ‘tip-of-the-spear’ with a lot of military infrastructure in place providing key critical assets for monitoring and deterrence. However, with a population base of only ~750K … and, our resource rich lands … and, our vast military assets, it’s completely foreseeable to see that AK907 could be potentially a top-tier target, should a major dust up go kinetic! It only makes sense to pre-position nuclear assets here with the state, utilizing the same argument that Russia is voicing.
They don’t have much choice But to expand its Arctic presence
Its for its own national security
Remember while USA tries to maintain its power through the next four presidential elections Russia is trying to think about keeping Russia culture, civilization, language, values going the next 1000 years
And this is being done by the guy that Trump adores, and sucks up to. Go figure.