- He met at the Canadian Arctic Research Station and this Friday he will go to the Cold Lake air base.
- Ukraine Insists That The Situation In Zaporizhia Is "Extremely Dangerous" After The Fire On Thursday
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| NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau |
Stoltenberg visits the Canadian Arctic in the midst of a strategic struggle with Russia in the region
A trip to the Canadian Arctic was made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg together with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday to visit a North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) early warning radar station.
Stoltenberg's arrival in the remote town of Cambridge Bay, in the self-governing territory of Nunavut, is the first by a NATO Secretary General to the Canadian Arctic.
In an opinion piece published Wednesday in The Globe and Mail, one of Canada's leading newspapers, Stoltenberg said the trip will serve to underscore the strategic importance of the region "for Euro-Atlantic security."
The NATO official added that "the shortest path to North America for Russian missiles or bombers would be over the North Pole."
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In Cambridge Bay, Stoltenberg witnessed part of 'Operation Nanook', a military exercise carried out each year by the Canadian armed forces in the Arctic.
The NATO Secretary General also visited the Canadian Arctic Research Station, a high-tech center whose construction began in 2014.
This Friday, Stoltenberg will go to Cold Lake Air Force Base, along with Trudeau. In this place, located in the north of the province of Alberta, the combat planes in charge of ensuring the security of the Canadian Arctic are based.
The Arctic, a new point of a geopolitical battle
The Arctic is close to becoming the new point of conflict between great powers such as Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, countries that compete to gain more weight in that region.
That area has oil, natural gas, tin, manganese, gold, nickel, lead, and platinum and has at least 25% of the world's energy reserves, something that is striking in the midst of the invasion of Ukraine.
In fact, Canada has reacted to the growing Russian interest in the Arctic with plans to increase its military presence in the northern regions of the country.
In June, the Canadian Ministry of Defense announced that in the coming years it will invest 4.9 billion Canadian dollars (more than 3.7 billion euros) to improve Norad facilities in the region.
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