UK backs new NATO mission in Arctic amid Donald Trump Greenland threats
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed Britain wants to step up an operation known as ‘Arctic Sentry’ to bolster security in the High North – a move also backed by Norway
The Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan joins Yvette Cooper as she visits UK forces in Norway
The UK is pushing for an Arctic security pact with NATO allies to face down Russia amid tensions over the region as Donald Trump’s threatens to take over Greenland.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed Britain wants to step up an operation known as ‘Arctic Sentry’ to bolster security in the High North, which is also backed by Norway. It would mirror NATO missions against Russia in the Baltic Sea and along the eastern flank, following drone incursions into Polish airspace last year.
The Mirror travelled with Ms Cooper as she flew by helicopter to meet British and Norwegian troops at Camp Viking, in Overbygd, in the north of Norway. The remote location, which is critical as a deterrent to Russia, plays host to Royal Marines and UK Commandos, training to survive and fight in unforgiving Arctic conditions.
At a military briefing, the Foreign Secretary was given a sobering warning by Brigadier Jamie Norman.
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He told her: “We are no longer at peace, and we see ourselves on a continuum that has war on one end to peace on the other. And we are somewhere on that continuum.”
Sitting down with the Mirror, the Foreign Secretary said: “The Arctic is the gateway for the Russia’s Northern Fleet to be able to threaten Britain.
“It’s the gateway which would allow them to threaten Britain, Western Europe, Norway itself, but also to threaten the US, Canada, it’s the gateway for them to be able to threaten transatlantic security.”
Ms Cooper also pointed to the threat from Russian spy ships and the shadow fleet of sanctions-busting oil tankers traverse these waters, helping to finance Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.
She said: “We’re proposing developing an Arctic Sentry. We already have a Baltic Sentry and an Eastern Sentry, which is NATO coordination for countries coming together around particular areas, particular geography, particular threats, particular areas of the Russian threat.
“For example, as part of the Eastern Sentry, the UK has supported the Poland, where it’s been dealing with drone incursions as well.
“That approach is really important already in the Baltic and on the eastern flank, but we want to see the same approach now developed across NATO for the Arctic.”
Allies like Norway are behind the idea, she said. “There’s a broad sense of countries recognising the growing and changing Arctic security risks and how we need collectively to respond to them as part of the NATO alliance.”
