Moscow is concerned with the growing activities of the US-led NATO bloc in the Arctic region, which may have grave security and ecology implications, a senior Russian representative to the Arctic Council, Nikolay Korchunov, has said. The official made the remarks to TASS news agency in an interview published Sunday.
“The internationalization of the alliance’s military activities in high latitudes, involving non-Arctic NATO states, causes nothing but concern. It raises the risks of unintentional incidents, which, in addition to security risks, can also cause serious damage to the fragile Arctic ecosystem,” Korchunov stated.
The US-led bloc has ramped up its activities in the region, staging increasingly massive military exercises, the official added. “Recently, another large-scale military exercise of the alliance took place in the north of Norway, which, in our opinion, does not contribute to ensuring security in the region,” Korchunov said, referring to the two-week “Cold Response” exercise that took place back in March.
The drills involved 1,500 US troops as well as forces from eight other NATO countries and “partner nations” numbering 15,000 in total. The exercise was marred by a crash of a US Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft. The tilt-rotor went down in a remote mountain range, killing four on board.