Russia flexes muscles near NATO’s northern flank ahead of Cold Response exercise
Norwegian F-35 fighter jets were scrambled twice this week to intercept Russian military aircraft flying near Norway’s northern border.
The Armed Forces said it scrambled two F-35s for NATO to identify two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers that flew west over the Barents Sea on February 27.
The Russian bombers were accompanied by two Su-35 fighter jets. Photos released showed that the Tu-95MS planes were armed with cruise missiles under the wings. The Su-35s were combat-ready, carrying air-to-air missiles.
The Norwegian planes met the Russians in international airspace over the Barents Sea. “… a routine activity, but an important part of monitoring and safeguarding our region,” the Norwegian Armed Forces said in a statement on X.
Also earlier this week, on February 25, Norwegian F-35s from Evenes air station were scrambled to identify Russian military planes over the Barents Sea. Two jets, a Su-24 and a Su-33, were followed north of Finnmark, the Norwegian Air Force reported in a post on Facebook.
The military planes were likely supporting the Russian Northern Fleet's combat exercise, taking place north of the Varanger fjord area this week.
One of Russia's largest warships, the guided-missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, has trained anti-aircraft shooting in the maritime border region with Norway, according to the Northern Fleet's press service.
The crew also trained in countering unmanned robotic systems, and destroying simulated targets with rapid-fire artillery guns in addition to completing a series of artillery firing exercises aimed at sea and shore targets.
Protecting the nuclear armed ballistic missile- and multirole submarines based along the coast of the Kola Peninsula is the main task in the Northern Fleet's exercises.
Last weekend, the Northern Fleet closed off an area for artillery shooting only a few nautical miles from the border with Norway near Grense Jakobselv. The Norwegian Armed Forces, however, are unwilling to answer questions about what actually happened.
Russia's Northern Fleet has on several occasions previously announced missiles or artillery shooting near Norway, but without any live-fire taking place.
The Northern Fleet continues to show strength in Arctic waters. On Sunday, the air space over a large area in the eastern part of the Barents Sea and northern part of the White Sea is closed with NOTAM (Notice to Airmen). This typically indicates a launch of a naval cruise missile, either from a submarine or a surface warship.
Russia's flexing of military muscles in the Barents Sea comes amid NATO's increasing presence throughout the alliance's Arctic territory.
In February 2026, NATO launched Arctic Sentry, a multi-domain military activity aimed at further strengthening deterrence and defence across the northern regions. The move follows decisions in recent months to establish Forward Land Forces (FLF) in Rovaniemi, Finland, and a Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) in Bodø, Norway.
With a kick-off on March 9, the Norwegian-led military winter exercise Cold Response will be joined by troops from 14 NATO countries. The exercise is NATO's largest inside the Arctic Circle in 2026 and will take place in northern Norway and Finnish Lapland, on land, at sea and in the air.
However, NATO emphasises in a statement that the Cold Response "is not linked to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine." No part of the exercise involves troops anywhere near the border with Russia's military stronghold on the Kola Peninsula.
