Arctic is our land and our waters, Russia warns West
Russia has warned the West against staking claims in the Arctic, ahead of an international meeting on the future of the region, where strategic competition has reached levels not seen since the end of the Cold War.
Moscow has recently increased its military presence in the area while also seeking to exploit mineral resources and new shipping routes that have opened up as the ice melts.
The United States, several Nordic countries and China have also made moves to protect their own interests in the region.
In February, the US sent strategic bombers to train in Norway, a move that rattled Moscow and led to accusations that Nato was “threatening” Russia.
Last year, the British Royal Navy led a multinational task group of warships and aircraft across the region’s waters.
“It has been absolutely clear for everyone for a long time that this is our territory, this is our land,” Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, said at a press conference in Moscow yesterday. “Let me emphasise once
again: this is our land and our waters.”
The comments presage charged talks ahead at a meeting of the Arctic Council in Reykjavik on Friday, which will bring together the foreign ministers of Arctic states. Russia is set to take over the two-year rotating chairmanship of the body. “We have questions for our neighbours, like Norway, who are trying to justify the need for Nato to come into the Arctic,” Lavrov added.
The Russian Foreign Minister is due to meet separately with Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, on the sidelines of the event.
The pair’s first official meeting will be held as relations between Moscow and Washington hit new lows, with Russia dubbing the US an “unfriendly” state following mutual expulsions of diplomats and fresh rounds of sanctions.
However, Russia and the US noted the Arctic was an area of co-operation during a recent climate summit, despite tensions over Ukraine, alleged Russian election meddling and cyberattacks.