Arctic Should Remain Zone Free of Military Activity: NATO Envoy

MOSCOW, December 26 (Sputnik) – The Arctic region should remain an area with minimum military activity and “cold war” rhetoric should be put aside for the sake of conflicts of interest, Russia’s permanent representative to NATO said Friday.

"There are no direct military risks today [in the Arctic] and the region should remain a zone with a minimum of military activity," Alexander Grushko said during a video conference from Brussels.

Grushko also added that Russia is "carefully watching how NATO is turning its focus to the Arctic region and our position here is completely clear: the less influence from military and political organizations in that region, the better it will be for solving tasks set before the Arctic states."

"In any case, we believe that the Arctic should remain free from conflicts of interest in using ‘cold war’ rhetoric… although we know there are certain forces that would like to make the Arctic a problematic zone," the permanent representative added.

Earlier in December, President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia was not planning to militarize the Arctic, but was going to take necessary measures to ensure its defense capability in the region.

In the same month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the race for the Arctic cannot exist as the rights of all countries concerning the Arctic region had been clearly defined in a variety of international treaties.

The Arctic is believed to have vast untapped reserves of oil and gas. Five countries bordering the area are particularly interested in the wealth of the Arctic Ocean, including the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.