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After Arctic trouble with Russia: USA present new plan 

2022-10-09T04:16:27.054Z


After Arctic trouble with Russia: USA present new plan  Created: 2022-10-09 06:12 By: Bettina Menzel The nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker Rosatomflot in the Arctic in July 2022. In view of Russian activity in the Arctic, the US has now decided on a new strategy. © IMAGO/Oksana Sotnik / ITAR-TASS The US unveiled a new strategy for the Arctic on Friday. It is about strategic competition with R


After Arctic trouble with Russia: USA present new plan 

Created: 2022-10-09 06:12

By: Bettina Menzel

The nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker Rosatomflot in the Arctic in July 2022.

In view of Russian activity in the Arctic, the US has now decided on a new strategy.

© IMAGO/Oksana Sotnik / ITAR-TASS

The US unveiled a new strategy for the Arctic on Friday.

It is about strategic competition with Russia and China and the "necessary presence to protect the country."

Washington, DC - The political status of the Arctic is disputed.

Numerous states lay claim to the area, mainly because of its wealth in mineral resources.

On Friday, the US presented a new strategy for the Arctic.

It was also about the "intensified strategic competition with Russia and China," it said.

After all, Russia has not only been expanding its military presence in the region since the start of the Ukraine war.

Why the Arctic is becoming more important every year

The Arctic is the region around the North Pole.

At first glance, only the eternal ice awaits here, but there are actually many mineral resources slumbering underground.

Climate change is happening four times faster in the Arctic than in the rest of the world, gradually freeing up valuable resources and sea routes.

So it is foreseeable that previously frozen waterways will be open to merchant and military ships in the future.

The geopolitical importance of the region is growing from year to year.

On the one hand, this involves oil and gas deposits, but also soil resources such as rare earths, precious metals or iron.

In addition, raw materials such as diamonds, gold or nickel are suspected under the ice.

In addition, the Arctic is interesting for its strategic location and for fishing.

The national territories of Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia, Canada and the USA border the polar region, which is why these countries lay claim to the area.

Finland, Iceland and Sweden also hold territorial shares.

Meanwhile, China is pursuing the plan for a “polar silk road” and has gradually increased its presence in the region in recent years, including by setting up arctic research stations.

That is why the Arctic came into focus during the Ukraine war

According to a Business Insider

report

, Russia already produces 90 percent of the natural gas and 60 percent of the oil in the Arctic.

But the area is not only of great economic relevance for Vladimir Putin.

Since the start of the Ukraine war, the polar region has also come into focus for other reasons.

Because of the sanctions in the Ukraine war, Norway had blocked a Russian transport of goods to Spitsbergen in July, and the Kremlin spoke of “Russians being starved out”.

The so-called "Spitzbergen Treaty" was briefly on the brink - it regulates the sea borders in the Barents Sea.

However, the dispute between Norway and Russia was settled.

Putin had expanded Russia's military presence in the Arctic long before the start of the Ukraine war.

In May 2021, for example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "It is clear to everyone that this is our territory, this is our country." The Arctic coast belongs to Russia and nobody else. In September, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned of a clear " Strengthening of Russia's military presence in the Arctic.” According to Stoltenberg, Moscow is in the process of reopening Soviet-era bases and stationing new, state-of-the-art weapons such as hypersonic missiles there.

After Sweden and Finland join NATO, Russian territory would immediately border on NATO territory.

In August, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized the planned expansion of NATO's presence around the North Pole. 

US unveils new Arctic strategy: "An Arctic that is Peaceful, Stable, Prosperous and Cooperative"

According to a strategy paper by the US Department of Defense from 2019, there is a possibility of attacking US territory from the Arctic.

Accordingly, the USA also has a security interest in the region.

On Friday, senior US officials presented a paper on the United States' new Arctic strategy.

The four pillars of the ten-year strategy are national security, environmental protection, sustainable economic development and international administrative cooperation, it said.

This also includes the necessary presence to protect the country.

Compared to the previous US strategy for the polar region in 2013, climate change has now been given a higher priority.

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Officials also addressed the situation with Russia.

In recent years, Moscow has shown increasing ambitions to develop natural resources in the Arctic.

The US government sees “challenges” in international cooperation in the region, especially with regard to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

It was said that international law was to be upheld in the Arctic.

Governments cannot solve the region's problems on their own and a broad coalition with business, science and society is needed.

In August, the United States announced the appointment of a special envoy to the Arctic.

"An Arctic that is peaceful, stable, prosperous and cooperative,

(bme with material from dpa)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-10-09

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