NATO strengthens its position in Eastern Europe with more ships and aircraft, enlightened the alliance Monday morning.

New ships are deployed in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, while soldiers and aircraft arrive in Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.

“We are increasing our presence to gather information and get an overview of what is happening, both in the Baltic region and in the Black Sea region,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later in the afternoon.

He came straight from a meeting with the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers. The two Nordic neighbors are not NATO members, but work closely with the defense alliance, both militarily and politically. Not least now.

– Good and correct information at the same time is important when decisions are to be made, Stoltenberg said.

He described the escalation as “defensive” and “preventive”.

At the same time, he made no secret of the importance of showing that NATO will protect all members of the Alliance. Both those near Russia in the east (Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and those around the Black Sea (Bulgaria and Romania as well as Turkey).

Meet in Paris on Wednesday

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov believes the United States and NATO are stepping up tensions through “information hysteria” and accusing the West of exacerbating the situation.

On Wednesday, Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet in Paris, the French Elysee Palace said on Monday night.

It was already known that German and French representatives would meet Russian envoys in the French capital.

President Emmanuel Macron will also speak with the Russian and French presidents.

This restores the negotiating quartet from 2014. At that time, it was the two pro-Russian breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine that created the European crisis mood.

Norway does not send reinforcements

For Norway, it is not relevant to contribute to the reinforced NATO presence in the East.

– Deter completely irrelevant, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre answers questions from NRK.

– Norway has an important job to do; it is to have eyes and ears open in the north, make sure it is predictable, stable and calm there. We follow this closely, both at sea and in the air, that is our task now, says Støre.

The Prime Minister is in the United States, among other things to chair a meeting of the UN Security Council. He does not want to comment on the fact that the United States is considering sending military reinforcements to Europe.

– Now it is the responsibility of both parties to leave wise speech get dominated, and do not let it be an escalation with interpretations of «How many forces come where»says Støre.

The Ministry of Defense states that Norway has not been asked to contribute to an increased presence in the Eastern European NATO countries.

– Norway already has forces present in Lithuania, and a possible request from NATO to increase its presence must be considered if it comes. So far we have not received such an inquiry.

– We are in a serious security situation for Europe. We are following the situation and have increased our vigilance in the north, writes Minister of Defense Odd Roger Enoksen in an e-mail to NRK.

Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen stated this weekend that certain measures have been taken to secure and increase Norwegian preparedness in the north.

Sends several planes and ships

Among the countries that will help strengthen preparedness to the east is Denmark. The country sends, among other things, four F16 aircraft to Lithuania, as well as a frigate to the Baltic Sea.

Spanish warships will also be part of NATO’s naval force.

The Netherlands will send F35 flights to Bulgaria in April. Spain is considering doing the same. The Netherlands also has soldiers ready if NATO should be about assistance.

France has said it is ready with forces that can be sent to Romania. Latvia has asked NATO for military support to be able to defend its own border to the east.

According to NATO chief Stoltenberg, no decision has yet been made to increase the number of combat troops in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

At present, there are around 4,000 soldiers from various NATO countries in the four countries. Norway contributes between 120-140 soldiers.

The Russians practice at sea

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports that 20 vessels from the Russian Baltic Navy have been sent out to participate in military exercises. According to the navy, they will, among other things, train to defend themselves against air attacks.

Russian authorities have announced that they are launching major naval exercises in many sea areas. A total of 140 ships will participate.

Among other things, Russia has informed Ireland that it plans to practice in international waters off the British Isles. The exercise will take place just outside Ireland’s territorial boundaries, but within the country’s economic zone, which the Irish authorities are protesting against.

Discourages travel to Ukraine

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs came on Monday afternoon with an updated travel advice for the whole of Ukraine. Since 2014, Norwegian citizens have been discouraged from traveling to and staying in the two breakaway counties of Donetsk and Luhansk as well as the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

Now they are expanding the council to apply to the whole country.

“Due to the tense and unpredictable situation in Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is tightening the travel council. Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises against all travel that is not strictly necessary to Ukraine » writes UD.

So far, no decision has been made to call home embassy employees, but plans have been made for both recall and evacuation if the security situation should indicate it, writes NTB.

Asks embassy staff to leave the country

Both the United States and the United Kingdom have ordered the families of embassy staff to leave Ukraine. The same with employees who are not considered critical of the embassy operations.

Both Ukraine and the EU believe it is a hasty move. No other European country has given such an order.

The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Dominic Raab, has stated that he will support Ukraine in his defense. They will not send their own forces to the country, but British military advisers are already in the country.

The EU is also planning a new aid package of NOK 12 billion for Ukraine. The country is in a difficult economic situation due to the conflict.

8500 American soldiers on standby

The US Department of Defense announced Monday night at. 8,500 soldiers are on standby. These can be quickly shipped to Europe along with warships and aircraft.

If this happens, it signals a sharp change of pace. Until now, the Americans have been cautious in their military approach to the conflict and instead threatened extensive economic sanctions.

But this weekend, President Joe Biden met with defense officials. The president was presented with various options for moving US forces closer to Russia, says a government source.

Sent Monday night European time, there was also a video meeting with the US president and the leaders of Poland, Britain, France, Germany and Italy in addition to the EU and NATO.

“There is no one at the moment who can break the solidarity between Ukraine and NATO,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said after the meeting.

The leaders will be the only ones to respond quickly with sanctions if Russia tries an invasion of Ukraine.

It is known that there have been different views in Europe on how strongly one should respond with financial sanctions, depending on the individual country’s relationship with Russia.

The Germans have been among the more reticent, but now German Chancellor Olof Scholz says that a Russian attack will “have serious consequences” for the Russians.

The video meeting took place only after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a similar meeting with his European products, where he informed about Friday’s meeting with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov.

Russia says it will respond “appropriately” if the United States sends larger forces to Eastern Europe, including the Baltics, writes the Russian agency Interfax.

Follow the development in NRK’s ​​News Center: