The growing Russian military presence in the Arctic threatens NATO’s anti-submarine defense line in the North Atlantic, said the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Michael Murphy.
“China and Russia are increasingly striving to challenge the interests of the United States, the West and the Allies. <…> And the Arctic is no exception”, – the American diplomat said.
According to Murphy, Russia has created a developed infrastructure in the Arctic, announced the dispatch of S-400 missile defense systems to the Kola Peninsula, and formed new Arctic units. In his opinion, these actions go beyond the protection of territories, jeopardizing the Faroe-Icelandic border.
In September 2019, Russia began to equip units based in the region with S-400 complexes. The first new system received a regiment on the island of South archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. In December, the commander of the Northern Fleet, Alexander Moiseev, said that all Arctic divisions of the Northern Fleet would receive S-400 complexes, which would create an air defense dome over the Russian part of the Arctic.