Norway needs to scale up and modernize its defense as Russia’s military buildup in the Arctic is creating a more uncertain security situation, its military chief said on Thursday. …

“Our neighbor in the east has built up its military capacity, also in areas close to us,” Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen told a news conference on a report on future defense.

“They have shown that they are willing to use military force to achieve political ambitions,” he said in a reference to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year….

“If we continue with today’s budget level I have to make serious cuts on the operational side. I have to remove entire divisions and cut down on planned investment. Then our military capacity disappears,” Bruun-Hanssen said.

Image: Norwegian Chief of Defense Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen, Oct. 31, 2013 (photo: Norwegian Ministry of Defense)