Russia and China are preparing for the war for the Arctic: what is known

Sergei Lavrov has already stated that the Arctic is not a territory of NATO, so the Russian Federation is ready to protect its interests there. Russia has stated that it was "completely ready" to conflict with NATO in the Arctic. This was stated by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Politico writes about it. The Arctic is the northernmost point of the Earth that contains an territory owned by eight countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the USA, Iceland and Russia.

All countries except Russia are NATO members. "The Arctic is not the territory of the North Atlantic Alliance," Lavrov said. "We see that NATO intensifies training related to possible crisis in the Arctic. Our country is completely ready to defend its interests in military, political and in terms of defense technologies," he said.

It is known that Finland entered NATO in April last year in response to a full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, and Sweden followed her example in March this year, becoming 31 and 32 of the Alliance, respectively. However, Lavrov warned that "the Arctic is not the territory of the North Atlantic Alliance," and stated that other, non -arctic countries, such as China and India, have their interests there.

Last year, one of Moscow's leading diplomats stated that Finland would be "affected first" if the war between NATO and Russia began. The permanent representative of Russia under international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, was also indignant in Finland's decision to sign a cooperation agreement with the US defense in December, which gave US troops access to Finnish bases and allowed the US to store military equipment in Finnish territory. "It's already a serious challenge," he said.

In February, Russia also suspended the annual payments by the Arctic Council, the Intergovernmental Forum of the Arctic countries, after other members have boycotted Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, although some cooperation has since recovered. In 2018, the China's government has stated that the country is a "around the arctic state" and has the full right to use the resources of the region, as well as to participate in its management.

Exploration and production of oil, gas and mineral minerals are planned from both land and shelf, as well as the use of marine transport routes for the delivery of goods to Europe and the removal of minerals from the Kolsky Peninsula, as well as forests from the northern regions of the Russian Federation. Since the Second World War until now, in the northwest of Greenland, near the village of the same name, the US Air Force Tula Air Force has existed and supported.