On Aug. 27, the U.S. Navy deployed a Mark 70 Containerized Launch System to Trondheim, Norway as part of Operation Atlantic City 26, which ran from Aug. 26 to Sep. 4. The Mark 70 is a 40 foot shipping container packed with four launch tubes that can fire either Tomahawk cruise missiles or SM-6 missiles. According to a Sep. 3 U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa statement, the operation is a U.S., UK and Norwegian initiative “advancing Arctic readiness, fires, & sea denial.”

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the deployment as dealing a further blow the prospects for U.S.-Russia talks on strategic nuclear stability. “For our part, we have repeatedly explained in detail that the favorable conditions for a substantive and fruitful strategic dialogue with the United States are yet to be created,” she said in response to a reporter’s question on Sept. 7. “And steps like the deployment of U.S. ground-based ISRM in Europe, missiles that threaten the Russian Federation, will, mildly speaking, reduce to zero any prerequisites for a constructive conversation on strategic affairs with the U.S.”