US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with Icelandic Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thordarson about his scheduled visit to Reykjavik where he will take part in the Arctic Council ministerial meeting next month, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout of the conversation on Wednesday

US Vice President Kamala Harris and Finland's President Sauli Niinisto have addressed the necessity to uphold sustained unity to counter Russia in the Euro-Atlantic area, a White House readout of a phone talk between the two showed on Tuesday

US posturing and unconcealed desire for global dominance may turn the Arctic into a new hotbed of confrontation between Russia and the United States, experts told Sputnik, adding that since the existing Arctic forums do not address hard security matters, discussion of the issue is urgently needed