TASS quoted a source as saying that Ukraine is being trained in combat with unmanned aerial vehicles in the North Sea.
According to TASS sources, about 50 Ukrainian drone operators have arrived in Norway and started the training program. The training content is said to focus on the use of unmanned systems on water and underwater in cold climate conditions, with the participation of the Norwegian naval special forces.
The target mentioned is ships entering and leaving Murmansk - Russia's largest port in the Arctic, playing a key role in Moscow's energy and cargo exports.
The source emphasized that if these activities take place, Norway's provision of territory and technical assistance may be considered by Russia as a direct action related to the conflict, thereby increasing the risk of dragging NATO into confrontation.
In a related development, British Defense Secretary John Healey said that British and Norwegian forces recently coordinated to monitor Russian submarines suspected of "suspicious activity" in the North Atlantic for more than 1 month, before they left the northern UK.
Previously, Norwegian intelligence agencies released a report assessing Russia as the "largest threat" to the security of this Nordic country as well as the entire Europe.
However, the Russian side denied it, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying that these accusations are "unfounded" and only unnecessarily increase tensions.
Russia has repeatedly affirmed that it has no intention of attacking NATO, and declared that it will only respond if it is attacked by this bloc first.
Meanwhile, the reality of the war shows that Ukraine has used unmanned devices to attack Russian oil tankers and cargo ships in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, as well as targeting Novorossiysk port - a transit point for about 20% of Russia's oil exports.
In response, Russia deployed long-range attacks targeting dual-use infrastructure and military targets in Ukraine with missiles and drones, while affirming that it was not aimed at purely civilian targets.
