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Some 300 U.S. marines in Norway for rotational presence

Xinhua, January 16, 2017 Adjust font size:

Some 300 troops of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) arrived in Norway on Monday as a rotational force presence, public broadcaster NRK reported.

"We are here to train in cold weather. We should learn to ski, and we will learn how to live in such an environment," USMC Colonel Douglas Bruun was quoted as saying.

The Norwegian defense ministry said in October that it would establish a limited rotational force presence of about 330 marines in central Norway beginning in January 2017.

According to the Norwegian defense ministry, this rotational force agreement builds on the framework of the agreements between the United States and Norway on prepositioning and reinforcement, renewed in 2005 in the Memorandum of Understanding Governing Prestockage and Reinforcement of Norway.

The renewal of the agreement, which was approved by the Storting (Parliament) in 2006, opens for a considerable increase of American training and exercises in Norway.

Norway was a founding member of the U.S.-led NATO alliance. It decided not to allow foreign troops to be stationed on the Norwegian soil in peacetime, as long as the country was not attacked or being threatened with hostilities. Endit