The Atlantic sea area around Iceland is considered strategically important for submarines, both Russian ones sailing from the Barents Sea and Western ones sailing into the North Sea or coming from the US.
Iceland approved on Tuesday, for the first time, the refueling of US nuclear submarines off its coast to facilitate surveillance of the North Atlantic, a zone of contact with Russian submarines.
Although a NATO member state, the small Nordic country has until now not allowed such visits, in the name of its opposition to nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.
“This decision by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is part of the Icelandic government’s policy to support the surveillance and response capability of allies in the North Atlantic,” the government said in a statement.
However, the refueling will not be done in ports, but “several kilometers offshore”, while another condition is that the submarines that will be refueled do not carry nuclear weapons, according to Reykjavik at least.
“The first submarine will make a (refueling) visit in the near future,” the Icelandic government said.
The Atlantic sea area around Iceland is considered strategically important for submarines, both Russian ones sailing from the Barents Sea and Western ones sailing into the North Sea or coming from the US.
The country of 370,000 inhabitants has been a founding member of NATO since 1949, but stands out from the others as it has no armed forces. It has only one coast guard unit.
Source :Skai
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