Norway Cancels Joint Viking Military Exercise Over COVID-19 Pandemic

MURMANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) The Norwegian government on Tuesday announced canceling planned military drills due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the annual Joint Viking military exercise.

Last week, the country imposed strict restrictions in 15 communes over the spread of the UK strain of the coronavirus.

"We have weighed the arguments and our decision has been to cancel the planned allied exercise activity in Troms. The decision entails cancelling both Excercise Rein I and Joint Viking, excercises that were to include allied participation from several countries in addition to Norwegian troops," Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a statement.

Joint Viking is a massive winter military exercise, conducted by Norway and its allies every year in the counties of Troms and Finnmark, the latter borders Russia. The drill aims to check the participant's combat capabilities under severe winter conditions. This year's exercise was scheduled for March and was supposed to involve 10,000 troops, including 3,400 allied servicemen.