“We see that NATO is intensifying exercises related to possible crises in the Arctic, and Russia is fully prepared to defend its interests on any terms,” declared the chancellor.

The minister noted that more and more frequently NATO has begun turning “its eyes to the Arctic region and to declare that due to its geographical location the North Atlantic Alliance also has interests there. Norway has been a member of NATO since its creation, so we must also be attentive to what is happening. The Arctic is not the territory of the North Atlantic Alliance,” he stressed, adding that “this intention of the Alliance to globalize and legitimize itself as a global police, instead of the police of the North Atlantic only, now intends to extend itself in the Arctic region.”

Lavrov also noted that there are many non-Arctic states interested in working in the region, among them are Russia’s strategic partners, such as China and India. “We have many joint projects with both of them that create perspectives for trilateral cooperation,” he recalled.

This includes the development of economic ties, the introduction of technologies in the development of the Arctic region, the production of natural gas, the use of the Northern Sea Route and its modernization to turn it into an even more comfortable route between Asia and Europe, the Minister concluded.

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