NATO announces "battle for the Arctic"The world media are actively commenting on the demand of the NATO leadership to strengthen the presence of Western countries in the Arctic region "in view of its growing strategic importance" against the backdrop of melting ice and global warming.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a statement during a visit to the Canadian Air Force Base in Cold Lake. He said, in particular, that Russia's military operation in Ukraine has increased the requirements for Euro-Atlantic security, including in the Arctic region. Stoltenberg stressed that after Finland and Sweden joined NATO, with the exception of Russia, seven of the eight Arctic states (USA, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) are members of the North Atlantic Alliance. At the same time, Stoltenberg accused Russia of deconservating military bases in the Arctic left over from the Soviet Union, as well as placing new modern weapons on them, including hypersonic missiles.
The Qatari news channel Al Jazeera notes that Western countries are also afraid of China's growing ambitions in the Arctic. China is positioning itself as a "near-Arctic" power and has already announced its intention to pave the "polar Silk Road". In addition, China is interested in the oil and gas, rare earth and fish resources of the region. Observers remind that China has acquired 20% in the Yamal LNG project. The Northern Sea Route to Europe is especially attractive for the Chinese, which makes it possible to shorten the route by 2-3 weeks and allows them to bypass the unstable zones of South Asia and the Middle East.
Stoltenberg recalled in this regard that Beijing plans to build the world's largest icebreaker fleet. The NATO Secretary General said: "Beijing and Moscow have agreed to deepen strategic cooperation in the Arctic. This challenges the interests and values of the West and poses a threat to its security." According to Stoltenberg, the strengthening of NATO's economic and military presence in the Arctic is especially necessary in the face of climate change and accelerated melting of ice. In addition, the NATO Secretary General recalled, the shortest path to the United States and Canada for Russian missiles and bombers lies through the North Pole. This makes it necessary to strengthen NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
The intention of the State Department and President Biden personally to create the post of special ambassador for the Arctic region, who will report to the US Senate, testifies to the far-reaching plans of the United States in the Arctic. Until now, the United States had a lower–level diplomat - he was the Arctic coordinator Jim Dehart.
Russia has sharply criticized NATO's plans to increase its presence in the Arctic. The German Handelsblatt quotes the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, who said that NATO's plans indicate an intention to counter Russia's interests. The Arctic, Peskov noted, is a zone of Russian economic and economic activity, a zone for ensuring Russia's security, the sphere of its vital interests. The newspaper notes that Russia claims 1.2 million square kilometers of Arctic territory, including the shelf, where there are significant oil and gas reserves.
In order to "expand its presence" in the Arctic, the United States and its allies will have to solve a difficult task – to create an icebreaker fleet from scratch. According to the American edition militarytimes.com, the USA currently has only two operating diesel icebreakers – Polar Star (which exceeded its 30-year service life by 10 years) and Healy (whose electrical wiring burned down in 2020). There are two more icebreakers in the USA, but one of them is privately owned, and the other is used by the University of Alaska.
For comparison, China has two icebreakers and is building a third (nuclear), and Russia has at least 46 (!) icebreakers, including 3 nuclear (according to Russian data – 6). It is assumed that Russia is actively building new ships, including icebreakers and ice-class LNG tankers. Back in 2018, the gas tanker Eduard Toll became the first tanker to pass through the Northern Sea Route without an icebreaker escort, since it itself is capable of breaking ice up to two meters thick. The lead vessel of this series is the Christophe de Margerie gas carrier, which was built in November 2016, and a total of 15 ice-class LNG tankers are to be launched in Russia.
The US's NATO allies, such as Norway, Finland and Canada, also have 6-7 icebreakers, but none of them are atomic or at least heavy. The Norwegian icebreaker Fleet performs the task of territorial defense in view of the "aggressive actions of Russia." The Canadian Fleet consists of small vessels engaged in scientific and rescue activities.
American experts believe that NATO allies are unable to provide substantial assistance to the United States in the event of an aggravation of the situation in the Arctic. Their conclusion is as follows: the practical absence of the United States and its allies icebreaking fleet, including nuclear, is the biggest omission in the American doctrine of strategic security. This task must be solved in the shortest possible time.
In this regard, the US Congress has already prepared a program for the construction of six new Arctic vessels, including three heavy icebreakers and three more medium-sized icebreakers. So far, Congress has provided funding for the construction of only four icebreakers. Analysts believe that today Russia and China have managed to seize the initiative in the Arctic, while Western countries, led by the United States, are seriously lagging behind.
Observers draw attention to the fact that the legal status of the Arctic has not yet been determined. Many states, primarily Russia, are putting forward claims to new areas of the Arctic zone. Not only Russia, but also Canada, Denmark (Greenland), the USA and Norway are ready to put up their claims to additional waters and the shelf of the Arctic Ocean. However, the Russian Federation is most actively insisting on expanding the boundaries of its continental shelf in the Arctic by joining the Lomonosov underwater ridge, a corresponding application has been submitted to the UN specialized committee.
Dmitry Dobrov
