Norway prepares civilian evacuations near Russian border

Toralf Heimdal, the mayor of the town of Bardu in northern Norway, emphasizes that Russia's potential brutality towards civilians during an occupation poses a serious threat.

- We cannot allow any Norwegian to find themselves on the wrong side of the occupation line, - said Heimdal.

The planned exercises are scheduled to take place during the NATO Cold Response maneuvers in 2026. Until now, foreign NATO forces have not been able to conduct exercises in the eastern part of the Finnmark region to avoid provoking Russia. However, changes in defense strategy, including the creation of a new brigade in Finnmark and a new NATO command in northern Finland, may alter this, reports TV 2.

Jørn Qviller, head of land defense in Finnmark, supports the initiative for evacuation exercises. He emphasizes that training in preparedness and civil defense is crucial. - This is something worth promoting, - says Qviller.

TV 2 points out that neighboring Finland has already involved larger parts of its civilian population in such exercises.

Magnus Mæland, the mayor of Sør-Varanger municipality, which directly borders Russia, also sees the necessity for evacuation planning. - The security situation in the world has changed dramatically, - says Mæland. He emphasizes that this issue is not just for the Finnmark region but for the entire country.

Kristine Kallset, State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and Preparedness, informs that the government is already working on new evacuation plans. - In the Total Preparedness Plan presented in January, a series of actions were proposed to increase resilience to crisis situations, - explains Kallset. The priority is the Finnmark region, especially its eastern part.