Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that this would begin the resumption of the mechanism of regular meetings of the chiefs of the General Staffs of the armed forces of the Arctic Council member countries
MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Russia proposes to resume the activity of the mechanism of regular meetings of the chiefs of the General Staffs of the armed forces of the Arctic Council member countries, at the first stage it is possible to hold a meeting at the level of military experts. This was stated on Monday at a press conference by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"If someone wants more predictability and wants to reduce the risks of the military plan [in the Arctic], then I propose to return to our long-standing proposal to resume the mechanism of regular meetings of the chiefs of the general staffs of the armed forces of the Arctic Council member countries. This mechanism was functioning, and about seven years ago our Western colleagues decided to freeze it. But if you decide to freeze, then do not be offended that we do not have a dialogue, we did not stop the dialogue, " Lavrov said. "We have renewed the proposal that this mechanism be recreated, as the first stage we can start not from the level of the chiefs of the General Staff, but to hold a meeting at the level of military experts from the eight countries of the Arctic Council."
"We will listen, of course, in Reykjavik, including how the United States treats this position of ours," the minister added.
At the same time, Lavrov noted that Moscow sees "lamentations about the fact that Russia is deploying military activity in the Arctic." "Everyone knew perfectly well for a long time that this is our territory, this is our land, we are responsible for ensuring that our Arctic coast is safe. And everything that our country does there is absolutely legal and legitimate," Lavrov stressed.
He also once again stressed that this is the territory and the waters. "But when NATO tries to justify its offensive in the Arctic, this is probably a slightly different situation. Here we have questions for our neighbors such as Norway, for example, which is trying in every possible way to justify the arrival of NATO in the Arctic, " the Russian Foreign Minister added.
According to him, Russia will discuss this issue at the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in Reykjavik on May 20.
