Commentary in The Spectator says High North stakes are rising

Klaus Dodds wrote in The Spectator on 24 October that the stakes in the High North are getting higher. He wrote that the threat from Russia includes cyberattacks, disruptive behaviour along the land border with Norway and offshore activity that tests Norwegian resolve in the Barents Sea and around Svalbard.

Dodds wrote that British forces trained on Jan Mayen, a Norwegian island, in August and on the Faroe Islands in September. He said the Jan Mayen exercise, Atlantic City, was part of NATO's Arctic Sentry mission and was held with Norwegian and US forces. He wrote that Moscow was critical of the deployment.

Background: High North News reported on 16 February that the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said at the Munich Security Conference that the UK would deploy its carrier strike group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, to the North Atlantic and the High North this year. The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said there that Russia would most likely use its Northern Fleet to open a second front in an escalation.

Correction, 26 October 2026: an earlier version said Boris Pistorius warned that Russian naval forces from the north could open a second front if Europe escalated. He said that in an escalation in Europe, Russia would most likely use its Northern Fleet to open a second front.

Correction, 27 October 2026: an earlier version gave only background from February and did not say that The Spectator piece is a commentary by Klaus Dodds. It now reports his article and credits it to him.

Correction, 27 October 2026: an earlier version also reported a passage from the paid part of The Spectator article. It has been removed.

Correction, 1 November 2026: an earlier version described Klaus Dodds as Professor of Geopolitics at Middlesex University London. The Spectator piece does not give that title.

Coverage: The Spectator, High North News