Russia frightened by 700 US Marines in Norway

Marine Corps Times:
Russia just can’t let it go that Norway recently decided to invite several hundred more Marines to the region for cold-weather training.

Last week, the Russian Embassy in Norway warned of consequences and on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the Corps’ presence in the Arctic country may, in fact, be an attack.

Norway recently agreed to boost the number of Marines in the country from 330 to 700 and opened a second training area closer to the Russian border in the Troms region.

Russia’s argues Oslo’s decision is in violation of agreements the Scandinavian country made when it joined NATO in 1949. Norway agreed not to base permanent foreign forces in the country unless threatened or attacked.

“But what attack is it possible to talk about today? As is known, top-level Norwegian officials have repeatedly noted that Russia presents no threat,” Zakharova said. “Considering the fact that US Marines are deployed in Norway, perhaps it is the United States that has attacked this country?”

The Marine Corps has been sending a small rotational force of about 300 Marines to the Arctic country for extreme cold-weather training.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller, has often said that the Corps has been out of the cold-weather business for a long time, and the top Marine has openly pursued increasing cold-weather training opportunities in Norway.
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The only threat these Marines pose to Russia is if Russian troops attempted an invasion of Norway.  The Marins have always trained to be effective in whatever climate or terrain a war may occur.  In the Korean War Marines destroyed the Chinese 8th Army which had surrounded them at the Chosin reservoir.  It was sometimes called the battle of the frozen Chosin.  In the Marines fight to the sea, they sometimes found Chinese troops frozen in place. 

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