The American and Russian foreign ministers are meeting Wednesday, May 19 in Iceland to gauge the unprecedented gap between the two rival powers and confirm the holding of a summit in June between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.
The statements leading up to the face-to-face do not really bode well for the
“de-escalation”
that Washington and Moscow say they are calling for at a time when relations are at their lowest since the end of the Cold War.
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While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to want to make the Arctic, a new geopolitical issue at the heart of the regional meeting which brings them together on Wednesday and Thursday in Reykjavik, a laboratory for a certain cooperation targeted on common challenges such as the fight against global warming, his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov has raised the tension with thunderous remarks.
"It has been clear to everyone for a long time that these are our lands, our territory,"
he said on Monday about the Far North, defending a kind of Russian precinct and denouncing in particular the
"offensive"
tendencies
of the West. via NATO and Norway. The
"military activity"
of Russia in the Arctic
"Perfectly legal and legitimate"
, he pleaded.
For Mikaa Mered, professor at Sciences Po and French specialist in the Arctic, the Russians
"always do this little nudge ahead of the ministerial summit, but that does not prevent the work of the Council from continuing on its traditional consensual subjects. "
.
But the Russian warning inevitably prompted a response from Antony Blinken, who called on Tuesday to
"avoid militarization"
of the Arctic but also such
"statements"
, which
"weaken"
the objective
"of a peaceful future ”
for this vast territory with extreme conditions, rich in natural resources, around the North Pole.
Before driving the nail in:
"We have concerns about the increase in certain military activities in the Arctic which increase the risk of accidents."
Harsh accusations and penalties
A few hours before the meeting, Antony Blinken also
"condemned Russia's abuses in Crimea"
on Twitter, proclaiming that the peninsula annexed in 2014 by Moscow
"is (in) Ukraine"
. The decor of the tête-à-tête is therefore set. Since his arrival at the White House in January, President Biden has displayed great firmness towards the Russia of Vladimir Putin, which he has gone so far as to call a
"killer"
- to better mark the break with his predecessor. Donald Trump, accused of appeasing the master of the Kremlin. Moscow and Washington exchanged harsh accusations and sanctions from the start of the Democrat's tenure. But since then, the two countries claim to want a form of appeasement.
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"We have said very clearly that if Russia chooses to take irresponsible or aggressive measures against our interests or our partners and allies, we will retaliate,"
warned Antony Blinken in Iceland.
"Not to seek conflict or escalation, but because one cannot be challenged with impunity in this way."
However, he considered
"important to be able to talk about this face to face to see if it is possible to have a more stable and predictable relationship with Russia"
, as well as common ground on climate or disarmament.
To achieve this, Joe Biden and Vladimir Poutin seem to agree to hold their first summit in June in a European country, probably in the wake, on the Western side, of the meetings of the leaders of the G7 and NATO which will give pride of place to the display of an anti-Moscow common front.
"We believe that this will take place in the coming weeks,"
confirmed the head of American diplomacy on Monday. The date and location could be announced in the days following the Reykjavik meeting.