Russian Embassy in Reykjavik:

⚡️🎙Comment on the statements by the Head of the Icelandic Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Bryndís Haraldsdóttir

💬We took a note of the statements by the Head of the Icelandic Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Bryndís Haraldsdóttir published on July 4 on the RUV news feed when she expressed concern about “Russia's militarization of the Arctic”. Such statements are of no surprise to us, especially in the light of the new NATO Strategic Concept, which declares our country “the most significant and direct threat” to the Alliance.

Nevertheless, once again we would like to remind the fundamental position of our country on the issue raised by Ms. Bryndís Haraldsdóttir. The Russian Federation considers high latitudes as a territory that should remain a zone of low military-political tension, a peaceful multilateral dialogue with the participation of all regional actors. At the same time, from a military point of view Russia takes legitimate measures necessary to ensure the security of its own Arctic coast.

Since 2016, Russian officials have repeatedly put forward proposals to restore the format of meetings of the Chiefs of the General Staffs of the Armed Forces of the Arctic states. We are convinced that professional military discussions within the framework of such meetings would contribute to the strengthening of the confidence-building measures in the region.

This idea, in particular, was mentioned by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov in May 2021 during the XII session of the Arctic Council in Reykjavik. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Minister confirmed readiness to work out, as a first step, the possibility of organizing consultations at the level of military experts of the eight Arctic countries. We have never get negative replies to this but no positive reaction followed as well.

❗️Obviously, constructive cooperation in the Arctic is not in the interests of the Western countries, which prefer to blame Russia for the militarization of the High North, in order to justify their own military build-up here, including that through regular maneuvers in the region of the North Atlantic Alliance member-states. It is well-known that the first large-scale NATO Air Force exercise “Arctic Challenge” was held the Arctic back in 2015 with the participation, which is worth mentioning, of such “neutral” countries as Finland and Sweden. In autumn 2018 NATO exercise "Trident Juncture" - the largest combat efficiency check-up since the collapse of the USSR – was held as well.

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