"With the launch of Arctic Sentry we will bring together all the assets which we have currently available in the Arctic, getting the whole picture, getting NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] involved, USNORTHCOM, EUCOM involved, and all the European allies together," Rutte said ahead of the NATO defense ministerial meeting in Brussels.
On Wednesday, Rutte announced that NATO had launched the Arctic Sentry mission. The initiative consolidates the alliance’s capabilities by integrating NATO and partner operations. It kicks off by combining major exercises—including Denmark’s Arctic Endurance and Norway’s Cold Response—involving tens of thousands of personnel.
In an interview published on February 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that NATO has, for years, pursued a policy of turning the Arctic into a theatre of confrontation, with the militarization of the region well underway.