Russia warns West against Arctic encroachment ahead of talks
Last edited Mon May 17, 2021, 07:29 PM - Edit history (2)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned Western countries against staking claims in the Arctic, as global warming makes the region more accessible and a site of global competition.
Lavrov's comments came ahead of a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council that comprises Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland on Wednesday and Thursday in Rejkavik. "It has been absolutely clear for everyone for a long time that this (the Arctic) is our territory, this is our land," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin in recent years has made Russia's Arctic region a strategic priority and ordered investment in military infrastructure and mineral extraction. Moscow has beefed up its military presence in the region, reopening and modernising several bases and airfields abandoned since the end of the Soviet era and deploying its state-of-the-art S-400 air defence systems.
In March, Russia launched massive Arctic manoeuvres, with Putin praising the exercises and a retired admiral saying they were to send a "signal to our foreign friends -- the Americans"
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210517-russia-warns-west-against-arctic-encroachment-ahead-of-talks
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