(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said this at a press conference of the heads of government of the Nordic countries, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"This is not a weapon directed primarily against us, but it is a strategic weapon for Russia. And I think it is a worrying sign that so much emphasis is being put into these developments. And what we learned over the last days I think is not a complete story about this potential missile, as I said there is a very mixed story in this testing," Store said.

He noted that Norway has long closely monitored Russian military technology tests in the North, as it is located only 100 kilometers from the world's largest nuclear arsenal. The politician described one of NATO's strengths as the fact that Norway serves as its "ears and eyes" for observing such activities.

"We know what it is to be a neighbor with the Soviet Union and with Russia, and we are strengthened by having our own defense, which is now scaling up its capacity, but even more so by having Sweden and Finland as partners in NATO, so that we have interoperability in the way we plan also for defense in the North... If we do our work correctly, we are a threat to no other country, but no other country should have the idea of threatening us," Store emphasized.

His Finnish counterpart, Petteri Orpo, in turn, said: "We are not afraid, but we are prepared."

The Finns, he recalled, have always been prepared, given their long history of relations with Russia. That is why, when Russia attacked Ukraine, Finland decided to join NATO together with Sweden.

Orpo welcomed the fact that in the European defense strengthening roadmap, Russia is clearly identified as threat number one.

Read also: Trump on Burevestnik: Putin should end war in Ukraine, not test missiles

"And it's crucial because it will be. When the war ends in Ukraine, it is clear that Russia will move the military forces to the western borders, behind our borders," Orpo stressed.

He also stated that he fully supports "the only reasonable solution" - to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, and expressed hope that a corresponding decision will be approved as early as December.

According to earlier reports, last week Russia conducted a test of the long-range nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestni. Moscow claims the missile was launched from an aircraft in the Amur region, while Norway's intelligence chief, Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensones, believes it was launched from the Arctic archipelago Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea.

The Burevestnik - known by NATO as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall - is equipped with a nuclear engine and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the weapon has virtually unlimited range and can evade U.S. missile defenses. However, many Western experts doubt these claims and question the missile's strategic value, arguing that the project will not give Moscow any new capabilities.

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