Russia to start artillery firing a few nautical miles from Norway’s Grense Jakobselv

Norwegian soldiers at the observation outpost No. 247 on the mountain just above Grense Jakobselv will have panorama view to the shootings.

The announced coastal warning (PRIPs) from the Port Administration for Northwestern Russia in Murmansk is valid for June 4 to 6 and is headlined “Varanger fjord” and detailed “Artillery firing”.

The Varanger fjord marks the maritime border between the two countries.

Here, the maritime border was agreed in 2007 (The Varanger fjord agreement) and further north, the delimitation agreement for the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean from 2010 (valid from 2011).

Neither the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) nor the coastal warnings tell if the artillery shootings will be conducted by navy warships of the Northern Fleet or by FSB Coast Guard. The latter has in recent years frequently sailed close to Norwegian shores outside Grense Jakobselv. 

The Sredny, inside the Fishermen Peninsula, is a well-known training area for coastal forces of the Northern Fleet. Pechenga is home to both the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade.

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The Northern Fleet currently have five other areas north of the Kola Peninsula with live-shootings from this weekend into next week. On Friday, also the airspace over the Kola Bay, from Severomorsk north to the Barents Sea is closed. So are two large areas on land, from the town of Kola towards Russia’s border with Finnish Lapland. 

Currently, the Northern Fleet engages eleven surface ships, submarines and support vessels as part of exercise Kumzha-2024.