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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Rachael Burford

New defence agreement between Norway and UK to protect critical infrastructure from Russian attack

Defence Secretary John Healey (left) met with his counterpart in Norway - (MoD)

Britain and Norway have started negotiations on a new defence pact in a bid to combat the threat to critical infrastructure from Russian attack.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the move will bring the militaries of the two countries closure together and they will begin “joint training for missions”.

Mr Healey and his counterpart, Tore Sandvik, kickstarted the talks on Thursday as they met at Norwegian Joint Headquarters, a fortress tunnelled deep into the side of a mountain.

They said the major defence agreement, which will be officially signed by the summer, will look to protect critical infrastructure, such as undersea cables, from Russian attack.

It comes as European countries continue to reel from the sharp shift in US foreign policy towards Ukraine.

President Donald Trump has urged nations to spend more money on defence, and has locked Nato partners out of initial peace talks over the future of Ukraine with Russia.

He has also branded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a dictator”.

But Mr Healey compared Mr Zelensky to Winston Churchill for not holding elections during war time. He also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to divide Europe".

"Putin wants to divide Nato,” he said. He wants to divide Europe.

"But three years on from his invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland are part of Nato.

"In the last year, the non-US nations of Nato increased defence spending by 20%, so we are stepping up on European security. We recognised in the discussions that I chaired earlier this week in Nato that we must do more, and we will.

"That isn't just about how much you spend. It's about how you spend it.

"And Nato also needs nations like Norway, like the UK, ready to set new standards of how we work together, we plan together, we deter together and if necessary, we will fight together.

Mr Healey also said Norway and the UK as “two European nations, we will step up our support for Ukraine”.

Discussing the declaration with Norway, he told a press conference: "This is a now, a once-in-a-generation opportunity, the chance to deepen further that military, industry and nation partnership between our two countries.

"So we have, today, signed an agreement, a declaration that we will work now to forge a deep, ambitious new defence agreement and we'll do that by the summer."

He later added: "We've said as two European nations that we will step up further the support we give to Ukraine. Ukraine is still fighting. We must keep them in the fight.

“We must try and keep them strong to secure that peace for the long-term.”

The new UK-Norwegian defence agreement will see closer co-operation between the two nations' defence industries, and closer working between their armed forces.

Mr Healey's visit to the High North - loosely defined as the area contained within the territories of the Arctic countries - also saw him visit a British vessel, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Proteus, currently docked in the town of Bodo, which will join Norwegian ships on exercise in the Baltic Sea.

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