The US has moved a launcher into Norway capable of firing Tomahawk missiles. The deployment drew a strong rebuke from Moscow. 

“A US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III delivers a US Navy Containerized Launching System (CLS) to Trondheim, Norway, Aug. 27, 2026, to participate in Operation Atlantic City 26,” a Department of War statement published on Tuesday explained. 

The CLS is a containerized derivative of the Mk-41 vertical launch system and is capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles 

On Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed the CLS deployment. “We regard the deployment in Europe of US systems capable of launching intermediate- and shorter-range missiles as yet another step in the never-ending series of highly destabilizing actions by NATO countries,” she said. “Thus, these missile systems can be used in aggressive actions by NATO countries against our country to solve strategic problems.”

Zakharova went on to warn that the CLS deployment would interfere with any US and Russian talks on new nuclear weapons agreements and would be factored into future deterrence planning in Moscow. “Steps such as the deployment in Europe of US ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missile systems that threaten Russia will, to put it mildly, ‘zero out’ the prerequisites for constructive talks with the US on strategic issues,” she added. 

Since the end of the Cold War, Washington has withdrawn from several major arms control agreements with Moscow . President George W Bush withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, while President Donald Trump voided the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty and the Open Skies pact. 

Additionally, New START expired in February after Trump declined Russia’s offer to continue observing the treaty’s limits for another year. Trump has called for replacing New START with a new agreement that includes China.

The issues between Russia and Norway are not limited to the CLS  deployment. Norway seized a Russian ship in the Arctic after a court ruled that it should be used to compensate Ukraine. 

The ship was seized while docked in Barentsburg on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, where Russia maintains a longstanding presence centered around a state-owned coal mining operation.