The Arctic states have everything needed to lower tensions in the Arctic region and to avoid its militarization, Nikolai Korchunov, Russian ambassador-at-large responsible for international Arctic cooperation, said on Thursday during a meeting of the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region that took place in Murmansk
MURMANSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2019) The Arctic states have everything needed to lower tensions in the Arctic region and to avoid its militarization, Nikolai Korchunov, Russian ambassador-at-large responsible for international Arctic cooperation, said on Thursday during a meeting of the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region that took place in Murmansk."We are convinced that there are all international legal instruments needed to ensure that the Arctic remains a territory of successful development, multilateral cooperation and low military and political tensions," Korchunov said, adding that the Arctic states should revive the dialogue between their military personnel in order to facilitate de-escalation of "the growing military and political tensions and enhance trust" in the region.
He also noted that such countries as the United Kingdom and the United States often looked at the Arctic "through the prism of geopolitics and as a possible battlefield." According to Korchunov, the Russian Foreign Ministry is closely following the statements of US politicians and states that they are not about cooperation but about suspicion, unfounded alarmism, and national isolation. Besides, the Russian Foreign Ministry considers that the UK Defence Arctic Strategy, that was published in 2018, leads to the militarization of the Arctic and to the exacerbation of the military situation in high latitudes.
In accordance with the UK Defence Arctic Strategy, the Arctic and the High North were proclaimed of high importance to the security of the United Kingdom. The strategy was supposed to allow the UK to carry out patrolling in Icelandic region and joint long-term marines training with Norway.
