has declared that it does not want an arms race in the region that was last seen in the Cold War, but foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stated that he saw no reason for a military alliance presence in the Arctic as there were no issues that required a military solution. 357 Consequently, Russia’s strategy of deterrence and engagement suggests that a military conflict is not wanted and there are currently no direct military threats and Russia is currently cooperating with numerous other states. But Russia cannot rule out military conflict in the future. United States of America
KEY QUOTE “U.S. Arctic policy is on one hand about the economic and social development of Alaska, and on the other hand about security in a larger international setting.” 37
Like Russia, the USA considers cooperation in the Arctic as the optimal policy and has declared that if its national interests are threatened it will respond with military action. 358359 Part of the desire to be cooperative in the Arctic
357 Ibid. p.99. 358 Huebert, p.213.
359 Kristine Offerdal, ‘Interstate Relations: the complexities of Arctic politics’, in Geopolitics and Security in the Arctic: Regional dynamics in a global world , 2nd edn, ed. by Rolf Tamnes and Kristine Offerdal (Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2014), pp.73-96 (p.78).
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