KIRKENES

The point of contact between NATO and Russia´s nuclear stronghold is the small town of Kirkenes, a sparsely populated swath of Arctic Norway. For years, Russia has treated the area as a laboratory, testing intelligence and influence operations before replicating them across Europe. Most attacks are deliberately murky, and difficult to attribute. They are acts of so-called hybrid warfare, designed to subdue the enemy without fighting.

The New Yorker | Ben Taub, a staff writer, is the recipient of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. His 2018 reporting on Iraq won a National Magazine Award and a George Polk Award. Published in the print edition of the September 16, 2024, issue, with the headline “The Dark Time”. [1] ARKA-33 | Sailing between Russia (red) and Norway (blue). [2] Submarine hunting aircrafts (e.g., P-8 Poseidon) fly at low altitude. [3] Radar system Globus tracking and calculating trajectories of ballistic nuclear missiles.