Moscow, Feb 13 (EFE).- The Russian government claimed on Friday that Western countries were deliberately destroying all cooperation mechanisms in the Arctic region and have effectively blocked the functioning of the Arctic Council.
The statement in this regard came from Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko during an interview with local media entity Izvestia, following NATO’s announcement of its mission “Arctic Sentry.”
«All peaceful instruments of cooperation are being deliberately destroyed, and the work of the Arctic Council, which was the main international platform for managing the situation in the Arctic and establishing cooperation, has been effectively blocked. In this region, international cooperation is now more necessary than ever,» he said.
Grushko said the breakdown in relations was being used to militarize the region and turn it into an arena of direct confrontation.
The peaceful architecture of the Arctic, developed over decades, is being dismantled as Western countries disregard years of constructive interaction, Grushko said.
The deputy foreign minister remarked that «suddenly, they all started talking about how the Arctic is not a zone of reduced tension.”
«Now this has been declared an arena of confrontation, where they, and I mean NATO and the European Union, want to confront not only Russia, which supposedly militarizes the region, but also China,» he said.
The NATO Allied Command Operations, responsible for the planning and execution of all the exercises, activities and operations of the Alliance, on Wednesday launched its “Arctic Sentry” mission to reinforce its position in the Arctic and the Upper North.
The initiative follows a meeting held last month in Davos, Switzerland, between United States President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in which they agreed for NATO to collectively take on greater responsibility in regional defense, considering Russia’s military activity and China’s allegedly growing interest in the area. EFE
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