That is why NATO is increasing its presence in the Arctic

In the face of new threats from Russia, NATO is stepping up its activities in the Arctic. “NATO must increase its presence in the Arctic. We're already investing in sea scouts to get a clear picture of what's going on in the far north. But we will continue to step up our efforts," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told WELT AM SONNTAG.

In the resource-rich region around the North Pole, which unites the foothills of the continents of North America, Asia and Europe, Russia has recently increased its activities: "We are seeing a significant increase in Russia's military presence in the Arctic. Moscow is in the process of reopening Soviet-era bases and deploying and testing new, state-of-the-art weapons such as hypersonic missiles there," said Stoltenberg, who recently traveled to the Canadian part of the Arctic for the first time with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently made Moscow's claims to the region clear again: "It has long been perfectly clear to everyone that this is our territory, this is our country." In recent years Moscow has expanded and deployed its bases in the Arctic there S-400 medium-range missiles that reach as far as Greenland or Alaska.

Russian MiG-31 fighter planes and bombers can land on the arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land. Moscow tested hypersonic missiles on the Kola Peninsula last November. A large part of Russia's natural gas deposits are also stored in the northern Arctic region controlled by Moscow.

Large amounts of rare earths, gold, iron, gravel and sand are also stored under the ice in the disputed areas. Around a third of the world's natural gas reserves and 16 percent of the world's oil reserves are located there. As the Arctic warms three times faster than the rest of the world as a result of global warming, sea ice is melting and resource exploitation is becoming more attractive.

According to Stoltenberg, China is also becoming increasingly interested in the Arctic, which is of “great strategic importance” for the western defense alliance. “It is the crucial connection between North America and Europe. The Arctic is also the shortest distance between North America and Russia.”

As the ice melts, new trade routes open up. Beijing is particularly interested in this. In 2018, the country declared itself a “close riparian” of the Arctic. Beijing wants to build a “polar silk road” with sea routes to Europe that are thousands of kilometers shorter.