Russian Ambassador to Norway Teimuraz Ramishvili called the attempts to militarize the Arctic a big mistake. He spoke on this topic in an interview with Izvestia on June 3.
“We continue to assert, regardless of the geopolitical situation, that we do not see a single problem, either multilaterally or bilaterally with all countries, which may require military force to solve. And we repeat it,” he said.
According to him, currently the work on the law of the sea within the framework of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is ongoing, it is important for the division of underwater areas.
“They are well aware that the political shift of arrows to the current behavior in an anti-Russian vein will lead to the fact that we will object to some kind of compromise in relation to other Arctic states with their underwater areas,” the Russian ambassador added.
He noted that now the work of the Arctic Council is increasingly being replaced by military rhetoric. According to him, Norway notes that if the work of the council does not return to its previous course, then the military rhetoric will only increase.
“Over the year, the number of exercises and their scale have increased. Our country has maintained restraint here as well. We didn’t like everything, but nevertheless, ”said the Russian ambassador.
He noted that Russia did not attract other countries to the Arctic, which began to conduct exercises there, as Norway does.
“And the Norwegian concept is such that they themselves cannot defend their country, so they teach NATO how to survive in the North,” he said.
In mid-October 2022, the US released an updated National Arctic Strategy that spoke of “serious concern” over Russia and China. It noted that Moscow and Beijing must be contained by military means, as well as build up their own potential.
