Russia’s 70-warship Ocean Shield exercise in the Baltic Sea last year has signaled Moscow’s intention to posture as an hegemonic force in the Arctic both militarily and economically, two international security experts said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) online forum on June 30.
“The complexity of exercises has expanded significantly over the last twelve years” as Moscow has pushed conventional and nuclear military modernization programs forward to assert its dominance regionally, Katarzyna Zysk, head of the Centre for Security Policy at Norway’s Institute of Defence Studies, said.
The exercises often involve joint land, air, and naval forces in combined operations, “making it less predictable” to NATO strategists in forecasting the short and long-term goals of the Russian military.
“Russian military force in the Arctic is not necessarily going to stay in the Arctic,” she added.
Heather Conley, director of CSIS’ Europe program, outlined his pessimistic outlook saying that the US and NATO “just can’t seem to get it right” when it comes to Arctic security. Läs artikel