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Russia calls NATO’s increased military activity in the Arctic alarming, warns of “unforeseen incidents”, TASS reports

April 17 (Reuters) – Russia is worried about increased NATO activity in the Arctic and sees risks of “unintentional incidents” in the region, Russian news ambassador Nikolai Korchunov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency on Sunday.

In March, Finland and Sweden, which are both considering joining the US-led NATO military alliance, conducted a combined NATO military exercise. The exercise was long planned, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 added to the intensity of the war. Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation”. Read more

“The latest increase in NATO activity in the Arctic is a cause for concern. Another large-scale military exercise of the alliance was recently held in northern Norway. In our opinion, this does not contribute to the security of the region,” Korchunov said. .

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According to Korchunov, such activities increase the risk of “unintentional incidents” that, in addition to security risks, can cause serious damage to the Arctic ecosystem.

He did not specify what type of incident he was talking about.

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland joined NATO, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in a European exclave. Read more

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