Russia key to Canadian Arctic defence

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Canada welcomes cooperation with Russia to tackle global warming in the Arctic, Defence Minister Bill Graham said last Friday during a four-day trip to Russia.

“In our view, the Arctic is changing rapidly because of global warming and there will be a need for further collaboration,” Graham told reporters at a press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov.

“Our navies could be looking at ways in which we would work on issues as waters become more and more open to traffic,” Graham said.

He said changes in the Arctic are “taking place I think at a surprising and almost dangerous rate.”

Russia and Canada have both claimed overlapping parts of the Arctic shelf, while Norway, Denmark and the United States have expressed “reservations” about Russia’s claim.

Recently, Russia’s Arctic fleet flagship Akademik Fyodorov became the world’s first transport vessel to reach the North Pole without an icebreaker’s assistance. On the way, the Akademic Fyodorov also studied Russia’s continental shelf, which Russian scientists said continues far into the Arctic Ocean.