Russia's return to Arctic bears no military threat to neighbors

Russia "predictably" returns to Arctic but this does not mean that Moscow extends its military presence there, a senior diplomat said Thursday. "When it comes to Russia, restoration of its military presence in Arctic has been implemented transparently, predictably and it does not target any neighbor, nor it crosses any red lines," Anton Vasiliev, the Foreign Ministry's special envoy, told a meeting of parliamentarians from the Arctic countries in the White Sea Russian city of Murmansk. Vasiliev denied that Russia saw any signs of militarization in Arctic. The diplomat said Russia has strengthened its armed forces in the region due to growing commercial activities and a necessity to secure safe navigation and provide relief and rescue operations. "There is no reason for military alliances to appear in Arctic," he said, adding that sub-Polar countries would rather strength their military cooperation in the region. Earlier this week, a group of Russian warships from the Northern Fleet started to implement tasks at the Novosibirsk Archipelago off the northern Siberian coast. The naval group, which includes heavy nuclear missile cruiser Peter the Great, has been deployed along the Northern Sea Route and the adjacent Arctic zone. The Defense Ministry said Monday that Russia also planned to deploy more naval groups in the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya and the Franz-Josef Land archipelago in the near future.