Russia, China and US vie for influence in the Faroe Islands
Richard Orange
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Malmö | The golf ball-like structures are still visible on top of the Sornfelli mountain that looms above Torshavn, the Faroe Islands’ capital.
Yet since the end of the Cold War, when the Danish unit that ran the radar was disbanded, Russian planes and submarines have been able to pass undetected through this strategic gateway to the contested Arctic Sea.
Skaelingsfjall mountain and radar station on Sornfelli peak, Streymoy island, Faroe Islands.
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Alamy
That is about to change. Last month Danish politicians agreed to spend £170 million ($223 million) re-establishing the radar station, whose buildings are being used as a prison, and buying drones to survey Greenland. That is partly why Jenis av Rana, the Faroese Foreign Minister, expects this week to meet Antony Blinken, his second meeting with a US secretary of state in less than a year.
The battle for the Arctic: Why global powers are vying for influence in the Faroe Islands
The US, Russia and China have all shown interest as Denmark re-establishes a radar station in the archipelago
10 March 2021 • 11:37am
The meteorological outpost on Sornfelli mountain in the Faroe Islands, soon to turned back into a radar station
Credit: Roberto Moiola / Sysaworld /Moment RF
The golf ball-like structures are still visible on top of the Sornfelli mountain that looms above Torshavn, the Faroese capital. But since the end of the Cold War, when the Danish unit that ran the radar was disbanded, Russian planes and submarines have been able to pass undetected through this strategic gateway to the high contested Arctic Sea.