Aimed at the Arctic: strong connections of China and Russia are threatening in another region - NATO (photo)

Such comments from the North Atlantic Alliance appeared after a speech at the Polar Assembly Conference in Reykjavik, where he expressed concern for Russia and China's activity in the Northern Region, including their cooperation in energy and transport. According to experts of the agency, this in turn caused a sharp increase in the supply of Russian oil to China through Arctic Waters.

The High Military Officer of the Alliance emphasized that commercial and scientific interests can be a precursor to Chinese military presence in the Arctic. "While Russia's intentions in the Arctic are becoming more and more obvious, China's intentions remain opaque about the region. We cannot be naive and expect these new routes to be used exclusively by commercial courts. We know that these ships are on board. They did not say that they would not go there in war, "Bauer said.

According to Bloomberg, the first step towards regular low -tonnage container transportation by the North Sea route was that the Chinese truck used this passage for a three -month flight to and back from the Baltic Sea to China. At the same time, Russia has rebuilt trade after invasion of the Northern Maritime Road.

However, GAO Fen, a special representative of China in the Arctic, speaking at the conference, seemed to have passed Bauer's comments, but noted that, according to the PRC, tension in the Arctic would not only complicate the activities of the Allies, but also affect global stability. "China and other Asian countries can play an important role in the protection, research, development and management of the Arctic," he assured the participants of the conference.

At the meeting of the Assembly of the Polar Circle, last year Bauer caused the anger of a Chinese diplomat who accused him of arrogance. In response, Bauer asked why China did not condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine. According to the sources of the agency, Russia is investing significant funds in Arctic Air; "Although the budget restrictions related to the war in Ukraine have detained the supply of new icebreakers, its significant military and naval forces in the Arctic remain intact," Bauer said.

Therefore, the Admiral said that NATO should be ready for conflict in the region, given Russia's ability to act in the Arctic. "Nevertheless, NATO is not concerned with the fact that the Arctic" immediately "will become a hot point," he said. On the eve of The New York Times, Russia wrote that Russia could be preparing for testing the experimental intercontinental ballistic missile "Petrel". This is evidenced by satellite photos of the Russian Arctic base.

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative Monitoring Group, Russia has previously completed 13 known trials from 2017 to 2019. All of them were unsuccessful, writes NYT, but failures can be deadly. According to US officials, the rocket launched in 2019 crashed and eventually exploded during an attempt to recover, causing seven people to die. We will remind, Focus wrote what the purpose of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China was.