Nordic countries to work towards common defence deal, Norway says

OSLO, Nov 12 (Reuters) – The Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland will work towards establishing a common defence deal in order to boost NATO’s overall ability to deter and defend, Norway’s Defence Minister Tore Sandvik said on Thursday.

The nations are all NATO members since Finland and Sweden joined the military alliance in 2023 and 2024, and have worked since then to improve their cooperation, for instance by conducting joint military and civilian preparedness exercises.

“We have already come a long way within the framework of NATO. We exercise and train together more than ever before. Now we want to take the cooperation one step further and integrate the Nordic armed forces even more closely,” Sandvik said in a statement.

One particular challenge highlighted by the countries’ military leadership was the need to harmonise laws and regulations, for instance when it comes to moving military personnel and equipment across borders.

“We see that there is potential to remove practical obstacles and adapt laws and regulations to make it possible to operate even more smoothly across national borders,” said Sandvik.

The move is the latest example of how the Nordic countries are stepping up their defence preparedness, spooked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and uncertainty over the United States as NATO’s ultimate security backstop.

All have steeply increased their defence budgets and are now in the top league of defence spenders per capita in NATO.

Norway and Finland both share a land border with Russia.

All of the Nordics are strong backers of Ukraine in its war with Russia. The region has seen a spate of incidents, including drone intrusions, cables and pipelines being sabotaged, that have increased security concerns.

Russia has consistently denied it poses a threat to its Nordic neighbours and regards accusations that it does so as scaremongering.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, editing by Terje Solsvik)