Post by LFC on May 19, 2021 20:52:15 GMT
The nations that border the Arctic region are jostling for territory and control.
"The enemy shall not pass," exclaims commander Ivan Glushchenko, standing in the glistening white snow that surrounds an ultra-modern Russian military base in the heart of the Arctic, the site of Moscow's stand-off with NATO.
The growing accessibility of natural resources and navigation routes in this rapidly thawing region has attracted global competition, and Moscow's interests clash with those of several other countries, including the United States.
These tensions are likely to resurface in Reykjavik Wednesday at a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council -- comprising Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
Ahead of the meeting, where Russia will assume the rotating chairmanship, AFP journalists visited Russia's "Arctic Trefoil", its northernmost military base located on the remote Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
The growing accessibility of natural resources and navigation routes in this rapidly thawing region has attracted global competition, and Moscow's interests clash with those of several other countries, including the United States.
These tensions are likely to resurface in Reykjavik Wednesday at a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council -- comprising Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
Ahead of the meeting, where Russia will assume the rotating chairmanship, AFP journalists visited Russia's "Arctic Trefoil", its northernmost military base located on the remote Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.