Right on the heels of NATO’s announcement that “there will be a military presence” in the Arctic, Russia declared that it, too, will increase its presence in the High North. Specifically, the country is planning to build a new Arctic research ship and send more scientists to the North Pole. Renowned Russian polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, who made the announcement, also challenged NATO by saying that it will not be able to increase its presence in the Arctic. On the contrary, he declared, “Only our country has the unique technical equipment capable of solving the problems of extreme Arctic conditions, and nothing can be compared with our fleet of icebreakers in terms of mobility and effectiveness.”
The International Herald Tribune has one version of the story, while the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti provides just a slightly different angle.
