NewsTracker Answers for week of Apr 13, 2015

Q: A joint declaration from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland calls Russia’s conduct the “biggest challenge to European security.” Where are these nations?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Which three of the Nordic nations are members of the NATO military alliance which includes the United States?

A. Denmark, Norway, Sweden

B. Denmark, Finland, Sweden

C. Denmark, Finland, Norway

D. Denmark, Iceland, Norway

D. Norway, Denmark and Iceland – which does not have an army – are members of NATO. Finland and Sweden are non-aligned, but have increased their cooperation with the NATO alliance.

Q: The Nordic countries said they were responding a rise in Russian military activity over the past year with several border violations in the region around the . . .

A. Adriatic Sea

C. Caspian Sea

C. Caspian Sea

D. All of the above

B. Finland, Sweden and Denmark border the Baltic Sea as does Russia. The increased Nordic cooperation will include more joint military exercises and intelligence exchanges, as well as stronger defense industry ties.

Q: Russia's involvement in Ukraine has raised security fears in other bordering nations, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania which are known as the . . .

A. Baltic States

B. Breakaway Republics

C. Triple Alliance

D. Triple Entente

A. The three northern European countries on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations. They broke away from the Russian-dominated Soviet Union in 1990-1991 and joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.

Q: Which city on the Baltic Sea is the former capital of Russia?

A. Kaliningrad

B. Riga

C. Saint Petersburg

D. Tallin

C. Saint Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great after he captured a Swedish fortress at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland. It was the capital of Russia from 1732 until 1918 when the capital was moved back to Moscow. With 5 million people, it is Russia's second largest city behind Moscow.