After the Second World War, the international situation of Norway was fragile. The Norwegian Government tried to maneuver between the East and the West because of intensified contradictions between the former Allies. Security policy and economic development became two critical factors in the foreign policy strategy of Norway. Norway's leadership chose to join the European Recovery Program (also known as the Marshall Plan) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to address these issues. This action immediately affected their relationship with the Soviet Union, whose Government closely monitored the situation inside the neighbouring country. To that end, the USSR Trade Mission in Norway collected and examined in detail articles in periodicals, which have contained reactions to the events described above anyway. Even though the USSR Trade Mission was primarily interested in the financial press, а principal topic of articles was the country's foreign policy. The article examines the Norwegian press review 1949–1950 executed by the USSR Trade Mission. What is special about this source is that the selection of articles was from periodicals of various political profiles. This gave the best possible understanding of the opinions and views within the country expressed through the press. Norway's official participation in European legal structures and the economic impact on the country were the main focus of published material. However, despite the political diversity of the newspapers in the review, the author concludes that the majority of publications had a similar, neutral (often even disapproving) attitude towards the foreign policy pursued by the country's leadership.
Soviet-Norwegian relations; the Cold War; the Marshall Plan; the Norwegian Press; the press review of the USSR Trade Mission.