Aircraft carrier Gerald R Ford.

US carrier Gerald R Ford (Gcaptain News)

The world's largest aircraft carrier is the United states ship Gerald R Ford which weighs in at 100,000 tonnes. Powered by Rolls Royce engines with a top speed of 30knots, it is 20,000 tonnes bigger than other carriers.   There are multiple reports of the vessel arriving in Norwegian waters near Oslo on 24th May 2023.  This seems to be a show of force at a time of heightened tension between NATO and Russia.  Reuters says that there will be joint exercises between Norwegian and US forces along the coast.  

Norwegian Armed Forces tweeted a welcome from one of their military helicopters which was viewing the arrival. 

Norway restricts Russian access to Northern port

Since the Russian attack on Ukraine, Norway has restricted access that Russian have to the northern port of Kirkenes to fishing vessels only.   However, Intelligence services have long known that many Russian vessels double as spy ships. 

Kirkenes Norway (Google maps)

So now, according to the German DW News channel, Norway is now only allowing those Russian fishing vessels to access the port of Kirkenes and other ports for emergency repairs. 

Norway restricts Russian access to Kirkenes port

Russia deploys nukes in Belarus

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that Russia has signed as deal and is moving ahead with the deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus .  Moscow will retain control of those weapons.  This follows an earlier announcement by Putin in March 2023 of those plans .

Russia to increase use of Northern sea routes

Rosatom (Russian Nuclear energy company) and Novatek (Russian natural gas company) plan to launch a year round navigation of the Northern sea route.  The Russian Government says that the route has become very important for the movement of oil, LNG, and minerals

Northern sea route.