New company of American soldiers in place at Værnes

Stjørdal. American soldiers in place in Værnes.Photo: Ned Alley / NTB scanpix

For the third time, new American soldiers have been stationed at Værnes.Christian Tybring Gjedde of Fremskrittsparti (Frp) believes this means that there is a permanent base there.

 

330 US soldiers arrived at the military camp in Værnes, while 330 left the country, wrote Klassekampen newspaper. This was marked by a ceremony at the end of last week.

‘’Call a spade a spade. If the soldiers rotate, and are permanently present,it means that the base itself is permanent,” said Frp’s foreign policy spokesperson, Christian Tybring Gjedde.

He believes that one must be honest in the conceptual use, and that it will be important in the further political process.

The deployment of the American soldiers in Trøndelag is controversial.

The scheme has been accused of violating the Norwegian Declaration of 1949, that foreign bases on Norwegian soil in peace time should not be deployed.

The government, however, denied that it is a base, and instead called it a ‘rotation-based presence’ or training.

“The American soldiers at Værnes increase the tension with Russia at a time when we actually need to reduce the tension. It’s scary’’, said Sosialistisk Venstreparti’s (SVs) Lars Haltbrekken.

The Ministry of Defence stated that they are satisfied with the scheme, and that continuation or expansion had not yet been politically addressed.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today