(Montreal) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Friday the need to strengthen security on the Alliance’s northern flank to counter Russia, following a tour of Canada during which he visited military installations in the Arctic.
Posted at 5:17 p.m.
“The High North is strategically important to Euro-Atlantic security,” Mr. Stoltenberg told a press conference at an air base in Cold Lake, Alberta, in the west of the country, noting that with the Finland and Sweden, seven of the eight Arctic states would soon be members of NATO.
“The shortest route to North America for Russian missiles and bombers would be the North Pole,” he also warned.
“This makes Norad’s role vital for North America and therefore for NATO,” he added, referring to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a US-Canadian organization.
During their tour of the Canadian Arctic, the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a site that is part of the radar warning and surveillance system in place since the days of the Cold War, before attending military exercises.
Russia’s capabilities in the High North “pose a strategic challenge for the entire Alliance”, Jens Stoltenberg said, citing Russia’s large military deployment in the region.
This includes opening up Arctic military sites and using the Far North “as a test bed for the most advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles”, he said.
The Secretary-General also expressed concern about China’s growing presence in the region in terms of maritime transport and resource exploration, but also with its plans to build the largest fleet of icebreakers. in the world.
Beijing and Moscow have pledged to intensify their operational cooperation in the Arctic. This is part of an increasingly close strategic partnership that challenges our values and interests.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General
NATO, he added, must respond by strengthening its presence in the High North and investing in new structures.
He also noted that climate change poses new “security challenges” that require a fundamental rethinking of NATO’s posture in the Arctic.
With climate change, “the region is becoming more accessible, both for economic activities and for military activities”, he argued.