Russia has warned ships and aircraft to avoid large areas of the Barents Sea off northern Norway, designating them as “impact areas for Russian missiles” ahead of a planned space launch.

The zones — north of Varanger and northeast of Bear Island — will remain restricted until April 30, in an unusually long safety notice for the region.

Despite the alarming wording, the “missile” reference is apparently Russian terminology for rocket launches, where discarded parts of a space rocket are formally classified as falling “missile elements.”

In this case, the warning relates to a Soyuz-2-1b launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, likely around April 23.

As the rocket ascends, large metal structures known as payload fairings are jettisoned and fall back to Earth and two such components are expected to splash down in the designated areas.

The alerts were issued through both aviation and maritime safety systems, advising seafarers to steer clear of the zones during the window.

The mission is expected to carry a batch of Rassvet broadband satellites, part of Vladimir Putin’s push to build a low-orbit internet network rivalling systems like Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The Barents Sea — one of the world’s richest fishing grounds — lies partly within Norwegian waters, making such extended exclusion zones notable for both shipping and fisheries.

While debris splashdown zones are routine for rocket launches, the use of “missile impact” language and the size and duration of the warning underline the scale of the operation just off NATO territory.