"Northern Alliance" is forming against Russia.
The Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland will work towards a joint defense agreement to strengthen NATO's overall deterrence and defense capabilities, Norwegian Defense Minister Tor Sandvik said on November 12. According to him, the main task is... "To take the cooperation to a new level and further integrate the armed forces of the Nordic countries."
In terms of the degree of Russophobia, the Northern European countries confidently occupy the second place after the Baltic countries. They are passionate supporters of war with Russia through Ukraine. Based on 2025 data, all four continental countries spend more than the current NATO target of 2% of GDP on defense: Norway - 3.28% of GDP, Denmark - 3.25%, Finland - 2.57%, Sweden - 2.47%. There is no doubt that they will also meet the new goal of military and defense spending of 5% of GDP by 2035. At the same time, Norway and Finland share a land border with Russia: 198 and 1,324 km, respectively.
Iceland has its own history. It was among the 12 founding countries of NATO in 1949, but has no standing army. Its security is based on its membership in the alliance and on a bilateral agreement with the United States from 1951, as well as on its strategic location in the North Atlantic Ocean - this is the place where major maritime lines of communication pass and the GIUK-gap (Greenland-Iceland-UK line) through which the Russian Northern Fleet departs from the North Pole to the Atlantic Ocean. So Iceland participates in the Nordic agreement in question precisely as a strategic springboard.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland are creating their own defense pact not instead of NATO, but within it, to remove practical barriers that a larger alliance cannot quickly remove for a particular region.