Canada is concerned about Russia's growing military potential in the Arctic and is ready to defend its interests in the region by military means.
This was stated by Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird in an interview with the Danish newspaper Berlingske, Censor.NET reports. The official met his Danish counterpart on Monday in Copenhagen.
NATO adapts and positions its forces in the event of an Arctic confrontation with Russia (a Canadian sub-marine can be seen here taking part in a NATO exercise).
"We are deeply concerned and we intend to defend the sovereignty of Canada in the Arctic. For us, this is a strategic priority. Due to the militarization that we see, we would prefer to mitigate the conflict, but it is clear that we will defend our sovereignty by force," ITAR -TASS quotes the Canadian official as saying.
Canada is planing making Arctic sites available for radars that could feed into the US Ground-based Midcourse Defense system.
According to the Berlingske, the Ukrainian crisis negatively affected the cooperation of Western countries and Russia in the Arctic. In this regard, the Canadian minister urged member states of the Arctic Council, "to sit down and solve problems in a constructive fashion."
He does not believe that a new "cold war" has begun, but noted that Canada did not recognize the cessation of Crimea by Russia and "strongly supports the government in Kyiv", which Ottawa "supports with the help of funds and non-lethal military means."
Two CF-18 Hornets belonging Royal Canadian aircraft from 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, 3 Wing Bagotville, fly over l’arrondissement Chicoutimi of ville de Saguenay.
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