U.S. plans to open diplomatic post in Norway’s Arctic

OSLO — The United States will soon open a small diplomatic mission in Norway that will be its northernmost in the world and the only such facility above the Arctic Circle, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has announced.

The move, which Blinken revealed Thursday at a news conference in Oslo after attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting, comes as competition over the high north’s resources with Russia intensifies.

Blinken said the U.S. would open what is known as an “American Presence Post” in Tromso, about 215 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The post will open this year and be staffed by a single U.S. diplomat with the title of “consul.”

“We’re here to work with like-minded allies to advance our vision of a peaceful, stable and cooperative Arctic,” Blinken said before meeting Norway’s foreign minister, whose country is preparing to assume the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which is headquartered in Tromso.

Norway will take over the eight-nation grouping of countries with territory in or near the Arctic after two years of Russian leadership, during which the bloc was largely ignored by other members due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. State Department had maintained an office in Tromso until 1994, but it was closed in a realignment of diplomatic facilities after the end of the Cold War.

“The United States is a proud Arctic state and takes seriously our role as one of the region’s stewards,” U.S. Ambassador to Norway Marc Nathanson said in a statement.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said Norway and the U.S. share a “long and proud history” of collaboration on Arctic issues.

“I welcome U.S. plans to establish a Presence Post in Tromso this year, which I am sure will further strengthen our close cooperation,” she said.