The bi-annual Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council in Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 20
th attracted a lot of media interest – not least because the new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was attending, alongside Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
This is one arena where the two rivals and Cold War adversaries come together as partners, cooperating to ensure stability and well-being in an area shared by nations and Indigenous peoples. As the Arctic Council celebrates its 25
th anniversary, this was its first in-person meeting since the onset of COVID. Russia takes over the rotating chairmanship from Iceland for the next two years, at a crucial time, with climate change dominating the Arctic and international agenda.
Ministers gathering in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik for a meeting of the Arctic Council last week weren’t due to discuss security. But the issue dominated conversations on the sidelines after Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov declared ahead of the summit that the Arctic “is our land and our waters.”
At a meeting of Arctic Council foreign ministers in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group should maintain its focus on peaceful cooperation on environmental issues, maritime safety and the well-being of indigenous people in the region.
Blinken left Iceland after the meeting to deliver the same message in Greenland, which attracted international attention when former President Donald Trump expressed interest in buying the world s largest island from Denmark and later cancelled a state visit to Copenhagen when his interest was widely mocked and rejected by the Danes and Greenlanders alike.
Asked whether the Biden administration had dropped Trump s interest in the purchase of Greenland, Blinken replied: “I can confirm that is correct. At the same time, Blinken lauded the re-establishment of a U.S. consulate in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk and said the administration hoped to boost cooperation with island on a variety of fronts
By Laura Millan Lombrana (Bloomberg)
A battle of words between top Russian and U.S. diplomats this week is the latest sign of rising tensions between superpowers racing to seize Arctic resources made more accessible by climate change.
Ministers gathering in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik for a meeting of the Arctic Council weren’t due to discuss security. But the issue dominated conversations on the sidelines after Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov declared ahead of the summit that the Arctic “is our land and our waters.”
“We are especially concerned with what’s going on close to our borders,” Lavrov said on Thursday after journalists asked him about what Russia sees as increased U.S. military activity in the region. “We are going to undertake necessary measures in order to ensure our security, but our priority is to ensure dialogue.”
U S , Russia at odds over military activity in the Arctic concordmonitor.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from concordmonitor.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.