War in Ukraine: the Norwegian government announces it is entering a “total defense” mode, what does that mean?

War is now possible in Norway, according to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Sharing nearly 200 kilometers of border with Russia, the country has gone into “total defense” mode, writes the Kyiv Post.

In this configuration, the government is modernizing Cold War-era air raid shelters, strengthening civil defense forces and asking households to train for emergency conditions.

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“Today we have around 18,600 shelters (enough to protect) just under 50% of the population of 5.6 million people,” said the head of the Norwegian Civil Defense, Oistein Knudsen. He adds: “Many of them need to be improved. They were built during the Cold War. They are damp. They are old.”

A series of objectives

The goal is to provide basic protection against threats like drones, which now dominate battlefields. Knudsen knows that civilians are targets for the Russians today. He adds: “My Ukrainian colleagues are waging an existential war on their own territory, and yet they take the time to share their experiences.”

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The government also wants to increase the number of men and women in civil defense by 50% to reach 12,000. It also requires all cities to establish “local preparedness councils” and increase the food self-sufficiency rate to 50% by 2030. Households are therefore invited to stock up on enough provisions to last seven days. By declaring 2026 as the year of “total defense”, the State is preparing its entire society (military, administrations, businesses, etc.) for a major crisis or war.

For the country’s inhabitants, it is not yet time to panic. According to a Civil Defense study, 37% of Norwegians say they have increased their preparation over the past year, but only 21% fear a war on the country’s soil in the next five years.