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NUPI skole

Anni Roth Hjermann

Former employee

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Aktivitet

Publications
Publications

Russian Certainty of NATO Hostility: Repercussions in the Arctic

How does a security dilemma dynamic between parties deemed not to hold hostile intentions toward each other emerge and escalate? This article investigates Russian official discourse on NATO engagement in Europe post-Crimea (2014), and its impact on security interaction in the Arctic. We also examine how Russia represents NATO intentions and actions in a context seen by Russia as a relation of war. We identify the effect of these changing representations of self and other for the emerging securitization dilemma in relations between Russia and NATO, arguing that they have replaced uncertainty about NATO’s hostile intentions with certainty. Although Russia still articulates the Arctic as a unique cooperative region, there may be little space left for non-conflictual Russian action when encountering NATO in the Arctic. We highlight the agency and importance of evolving political rhetoric in creating a dangerous situation where lethal conflict can occur between parties who do not seek it, and also suggest that adjustments to patterns of official speech could be a tool of mitigation

  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
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  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
Publications
Publications
Report

Russian reframing: Norway as an outpost for NATO offensives

Moscow increasingly views the ‘Collective West’ as an offensive actor and the High North as terrain for NATO ‘expansion’. Norway figures as an active partner in this endeavour. For Norway, this situation is precarious: to the degree that Norway is seen as an inimical ‘NATO in the North’, Norwegian policies across a range of issue-areas increasingly risk being perceived as actions in an existential Russia–West struggle. This is worrisome because a key pillar of official Norwegian policy towards Russia involves balancing NATO deterrence with reassurance. As the military/non-military distinction becomes blurred in the eyes of Russia this crucial balancing becomes very difficult – the intended ‘reassuring’ signal might not come across.

  • Defence and security
  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Regions
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
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  • Defence and security
  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Regions
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
Articles
Analysis
Articles
Analysis

Russian reframing: Norway as an outpost for NATO offensives

Moscow increasingly views the West as an offensive actor and the High North as terrain for NATO expansion, according to this NUPI policy brief.
  • Defence
  • NATO
  • Foreign policy
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
  • Conflict
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