“I fear that the hard security view on the Arctic will gain ground. In that case, we are returning to the days of the Cold War and will emphasize counting troops and focusing on military capacities and strategies in the Arctic region”, Timo Koivurova says to High North News.
Koivurova is a Research Professor at the Finnish University of Lapland’s Arctic Center. He is also a former director of the center and was advisor to the Finnish chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2017-2019.
Responding to the Russian war in Ukraine, cooperation in the Arctic Council, which was established in 1996, was put on hold early March – for the first time ever.
The Council has been characterized by its ability to keep conflicts from other areas, including the one related to Ukraine from 2014, at arm’s distance. Military security is also clearly excluded from the Council’s mandate. […]
“However, even if Arctic cooperation such as within the Arctic Council and the Barents cooperation were to be resumed at some point, I fear that its significance will be reduced. This is so because the main focus then is likely to be on military security issues.”
“It is now fair to say that Western states are consolidating their military resources and that they are doing so with Russia in mind”, he adds. Läs artikel
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