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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Friday that Russia’s increased presence in the Arctic represents a “strategic challenge” for the Atlantic Alliance.
Jens Stoltenberg spoke at Cold Lake Air Force Base in northwestern Canada, where North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) fighters responsible for patrolling the Arctic are based.
At the end of a three-day visit to Canada, the head of the Atlantic Alliance stressed that the shortest path for Russian missiles and bombers to reach Western Europe is through the Arctic region.
Furthermore, Stoltenberg explained that Russia is using the Arctic to test new weaponslike hypersonic missiles.
Russia has established a new Arctic Command. It opened hundreds of new bases in the Arctic, as well as old Soviet-era military installations, including air bases and deep-sea ports.”
On Thursday, Stoltenberg traveled with Trudeau to the remote Canadian city of Cambridge Bay, in the self-governing territory of Nunavut, where Norad has an early warning radar station to detect Russian missiles and planes.
This was the first time in NATO history that an alliance secretary general had visited the Canadian Arctic.
Traditionally, Canada has expressed reluctance to the presence of the Atlantic Alliance in its arctic regions.
But Trudeau noted that while Canada’s position is the same, the geopolitical situation has changed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, opening the door for Stoltenberg’s visit to the Arctic.
Russia is a growing concern for all of us. What makes it appropriate to share with the Secretary General [da NATO] everything that Canada is doing through Norad and independently to ensure that we are protecting this region.”
Jens Stoltenberg also underlined the growing importance of the north of the planet for NATO, recalling that, once Sweden and Finland complete their accession to the organization, seven of the eight Arctic countries will be integrated into the Military Alliance. The only Arctic country that will be left out is precisely Russia.
The United States has announced that it will create a roving ambassador post for the Arctic, a decision that demonstrates the importance that Americans give to this strategic region, also coveted by Russia and China, in the face of climate change.
The US creates an embassy for the “strategic region” of the Arctic
The retreat of the Arctic ice opens up important economic and military opportunities thanks, in particular, to new shipping routes.
The Arctic has warmed almost four times faster than the rest of the planet in the last 40 years, according to a new study.
Source: Observadora
