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Why Arctic security has suddenly become a priority for Europe · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: European leaders are meeting in Finland to discuss the future
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of the EU's presence in the Arctic region. The two-day
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: summit in Finland's far north underscores the growing competition for
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: influence in the Arctic. New shipping routes are opening up
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  Speaker 1: due to global warming, which is melting Arctic ice. Countries
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  Speaker 1: are also vying for vast raw material deposits, while increased
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  Speaker 1: Russian and Chinese military activity is fueling security concerns. The
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  Speaker 1: 12 European countries taking part in the summit urged the
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  Speaker 1: EU to beef up its military presence following threats from
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  Speaker 1: Russia and from U.S. President Donald Trump. And we can
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  Speaker 1: now talk to Andreas Oesthagen. He's a research director on
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  Speaker 1: Arctic and ocean politics at the Frithjof Nansen Institute, an
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  Speaker 1: independent research foundation in Oslo. Andreas, why are so many
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  Speaker 1: European leaders suddenly paying attention to the Arctic? What has changed?
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  Speaker 2: Because the Arctic is changing.
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  Speaker 3: The Arctic is one of the parts of the planet
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  Speaker 3: where we see climate having the most effect or climate
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  Speaker 3: change occurring the fastest. Not only that, but we also
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  Speaker 3: see an interest in resources in the Arctic. And on
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  Speaker 3: top of that, Russia is extremely dependent on the Arctic,
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  Speaker 3: not only for resource development, but also for its security,
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  Speaker 3: its nuclear weapons, basically. So the combination of climate change
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  Speaker 3: resources and Russia's insecurities and dependencies is why we're talking
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  Speaker 3: about the Arctic even more these days.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned Russia there. Russia's military footprint in the Arctic
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  Speaker 1: continues to grow despite the war in Ukraine. How worried
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  Speaker 1: should Europeans be about the Arctic becoming a new arena
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  Speaker 1: of confrontation between NATO and Russia? Or is this already happening?
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  Speaker 3: It is already happening. We are already at that stage.
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  Speaker 3: We should be quite worried about what's happening in the Arctic,
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  Speaker 3: in our Arctic. I mean, the Arctic is a It's
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  Speaker 3: a vast space. It's 4% of the planet is the Arctic,
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  Speaker 3: everything above the Arctic Circle. And the European parts of
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  Speaker 3: the Arctic is where Russia has its nuclear weapons, its submarines,
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  Speaker 3: its bomber planes, its ballistic missiles. And it's where Sweden,
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  Speaker 3: Finland and Norway have to border those weapons, deal with
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  Speaker 3: Russian behavior and deal with unpredictability of the Putin regime.
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  Speaker 2: So we should be rather.
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  Speaker 3: Worried about intentional escalation in the Arctic from Russia or
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  Speaker 3: or mishaps that might occur when Russia is increasing its
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  Speaker 3: military activity up north.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Finland's Prime Minister, Petteri Oppo, has told reporters, echoing
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  Speaker 1: what you say, he said, we have natural resources, we
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  Speaker 1: have new sea routes because of climate change, but we
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  Speaker 1: also have threats, and that's why we need concrete actions.
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  Speaker 1: What could these concrete actions be?
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  Speaker 3: I wonder that myself sometimes with these summits and these statements,
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  Speaker 3: but But I'm assuming what he means is that European allies, Germany, France,
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  Speaker 3: the UK, Poland, have to look more north. Germans have
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  Speaker 3: to train more in the Arctic to know how to
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  Speaker 3: ski and walk on ice and basically operate in the
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  Speaker 3: cold weather and deal with the problems of technology also
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  Speaker 3: operating in that same space.
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  Speaker 2: So there's one practical.
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  Speaker 3: Element to it, and it's basically being able to be
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  Speaker 3: present in the Arctic. if we need to have more
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  Speaker 3: activity up north. And then on top of that, I
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  Speaker 3: think it's awareness. I think the European Union for too
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  Speaker 3: long has been ignoring the Arctic. It's been talking about
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  Speaker 3: the Arctic as a climate change issue, which it is,
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  Speaker 3: but it's also much more. It also relates to everything
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  Speaker 3: else from Russia to China's increased interest. India is increasingly
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  Speaker 3: talking about the Arctic. So the EU and EU states
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  Speaker 3: also need to understand what's happening in the Arctic.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there's an awareness issue also going on.
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  Speaker 1: Now, despite being more than 1,000 kilometres, 1,500 kilometres actually,
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  Speaker 1: away from the Arctic Circle, China calls itself a near-Arctic
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  Speaker 1: state and is steadily expanding its commercial presence in the region.
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  Speaker 1: Is the Arctic heading towards a great power competition on
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  Speaker 1: the scale we see in the Indo-Pacific, maybe?
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  Speaker 3: Yes. I think that undoubtedly we are already heading towards
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  Speaker 3: something similar. And the Arctic is a rather vast space,
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  Speaker 3: as I already said. So we're actually talking about different arenas.
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  Speaker 3: China is increasingly wanting to invest in the Russian Arctic
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  Speaker 3: and is also operating militarily and with its coast guard
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  Speaker 3: in the North Pacific or the part where the Pacific
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  Speaker 3: becomes the Arctic. That's not the European Arctic. We don't
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  Speaker 3: see Chinese ships sailing around Norway or even Greenland, even
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  Speaker 3: though Donald Trump has said something different. So we're seeing
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  Speaker 3: Chinese activity and interest increasing in certain parts of the Arctic.
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  Speaker 3: And then I think you can add on to that,
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  Speaker 3: as I said, India's growing interest in the Arctic. The
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  Speaker 3: United Arab Emirates is talking about the Arctic.
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  Speaker 2: This doesn't mean an immediate.
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  Speaker 3: Conflict between these countries, but it means that more and
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  Speaker 3: more great powers or countries that aspire to become great powers,
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  Speaker 3: they want to have Arctic policies, they want to have
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  Speaker 3: Arctic research stations, they want to invest in the North,
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  Speaker 3: and they might even sail their military vessels further.
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  Speaker 2: Up north.
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  Speaker 3: And all of this is causing more concern and more
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  Speaker 3: troubles for the Arctic countries themselves. That's why Finland's prime
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  Speaker 3: minister hosted this summit.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you are studying Arctic politics every day. Now, what
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  Speaker 1: is the single biggest misconception that European leaders still have
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  Speaker 1: about the Arctic?
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  Speaker 3: I should be saying that penguins exist in the Arctic,
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  Speaker 3: but But that's just a joke.
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  Speaker 2: They're only in the Antarctic.
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  Speaker 3: No, I think the single biggest misconception is that the
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  Speaker 3: Arctic is, as I said already, one space. That in
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  Speaker 3: that one space, China is investing alongside Russian submarines, alongside.
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  Speaker 2: Say, Norwegian NATO troops.
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  Speaker 3: But this notion that the Arctic is rather vast, rather big,
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  Speaker 3: and that Europe has a big chunk of the Arctic,
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  Speaker 3: a big component of the Arctic is European.
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  Speaker 2: That's where we, the EU.
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  Speaker 3: European states can make a difference, but that's not necessarily
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  Speaker 3: Greenland or it's definitely not Alaska, which is a whole
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  Speaker 3: different part of the Arctic. I think this tendency to
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  Speaker 3: look at the Arctic as just one small part of
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  Speaker 3: the world that is primarily frozen, I think that's the
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  Speaker 3: biggest problem. I think there's much more nuance and there's
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  Speaker 3: much more geography to it. We need to look at
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  Speaker 3: the map and study that a bit more closely.
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  Speaker 1: Andreas Östhagen there from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. Many thanks
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  Speaker 1: for sharing your expertise with us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.