Russia has intensified its military maneuvers in the Arctic

Moscow, Russia | Russia on Tuesday engaged in new military maneuvers in the Arctic, which has increased its presence in recent years and is a strategic area that opposes the interests of many countries, including the United States.

The final maneuver began Monday and will last “several days,” the defense ministry said. These include the destruction of an aircraft by Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft systems, refueling an MiG-31 fighter aircraft and neutralizing a drone attack by removing their control signals.

They are following a naval exercise on Friday, when three nuclear-powered submarines were spotted in Arctic ice, the first in post-Soviet Russian history, according to the military, and an operation by President Vladimir Putin.

According to retired Russian Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, who was interviewed by Interfax on Friday, “This is normal intensive combat training, but it is also a signal to our foreign friends – even Americans.”

“The goal is to show clearly: do not try to learn the North Sea. We have been here for a long time,” he said.

Vladimir Putin gave strategic priority to the economic exploitation of the Arctic, especially by creating a sea route along the north coast to connect Europe with Asia and to compete with the Suez Canal.

This sea route plays a growing role in international trade, thanks to more global warming and ice melting.

On the military side, Russia has continued to increase its presence in the Arctic in recent years, reopening and modernizing many bases and airfields abandoned since the end of the Soviet era. It also deployed its state-of-the-art S-400 air defense systems there.

In 2019, Academic Lomonosov launched the world’s first floating nuclear power plant to facilitate economic growth in the Arctic and to supply oil platforms in this hydrocarbon-rich region.

Moscow’s interests in the Arctic have clashed with four other countries, including the United States, which sent strategic bombers to train in Norway in February and deployed ships to the Barents Sea in the United States last year. Special Economic Zone of Russia.