With the melting of the polar ice caps the Arctic shipping routes could prove to be major drivers of great power contestation. Currently, the US icebreaker fleet is in a pitiable state, while the Russians have a fairly strong one. To what extent will this contest allow the principle of the Artic being a global common for all, will be tested in the process.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowed in an interview published on Friday that Moscow would defend its interests in the Arctic both in diplomatic and military terms.
Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying in a series of documentaries that Russia was resolved to counter a drive by the United States and its NATO allies to stage an increasing number of military exercises in the Arctic region.
“We see how NATO is intensifying exercises in connection with possible crises in the Arctic,” Lavrov was quoted as saying in the series entitled “Soviet breakthrough”.
“Our country is fully ready to defend its interests in military, political and military-technical terms.”
The agencies provided no further quotes to illustrate Lavrov’s contention.
Lavrov made his comments against the background of a new Pentagon strategy on the Arctic issued in July outlining what Washington described as intensified Russian activity around the Arctic.
The U.S. report said Russia had reopened hundreds of Soviet-era military sites in the Arctic and pointed to increased Russian cooperation with China on minerals and shipping routes which could affect stability in polar regions.
When the report was issued, Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the United States of stoking tensions in the Arctic and dismissed any notion that increased cooperation in the area with China could affect regional stability.
The United States has formed a partnership with Canada and Finland, leaders in Arctic shipbuilding, to jointly construct 70 to 90 polar icebreakers over the coming decade. This alliance, known as the U.S.-Finland-Canada “ICE Pact” – “Icebreaker Collaboration Effort.”, aims to capitalise on the opening of Arctic sea lanes due to melting polar ice caps. These new routes are expected to halve transit times between Asian and Atlantic ports.
Team Bharatshakti
