MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Western states have embarked on an active militarization of the Arctic, thereby turning the region from a peaceful area into an arena of confrontation following the Baltic, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of European Problems and Russia’s senior official at the Arctic Council Vladislav Maslennikov said at a briefing.
"The region, which previously stood out for exclusively peaceful and constructive cooperation, is now seeing growing tensions and increasing risks of unintended escalation. Under the pretext of mythical threats from the East, NATO has embarked on an active militarization of the Arctic and is rapidly strengthening its offensive capabilities near our northern borders. Large-scale drills aimed, among other things, at practicing offensive scenarios are regularly held in the North," he said.
"Non-Arctic countries are also actively involved in these activities, including those located quite far geographically from the high latitudes. In fact, we can say that our Western colleagues are making the same mistake again that they made in the Baltic," Maslennikov stressed.
