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NATO sets course for the Arctic

The Barents Sea, north of Norway and Russia, may well become, like the South China Sea, an area of ​​maritime tension, with Russia claiming sovereign rights over the new Arctic shipping routes.

Moscow therefore requires that all military vessels request an authorization to transit the northern sea route with 45 days notice. It also wants to know the duration and the reason of the transit, the nationality of the flag, the rank and the name of the captain of the ship and it would like to impose the presence of a pilot and the assistance, if necessary, of an icebreaker .

Not the first foray

Washington refuses, in the name of freedom of navigation in the Arctic Ocean. NATO’s northern flank again demands attention from the US and its allies , warned the State Department in February.

In early May, the Americans warned the Russians of the deployment of a NATO flotilla to the Barents Sea. Robust, it brought together three American missile-destroyers and a British frigate. These vessels were accompanied by an American supply ship and maritime patrol aircraft. And probably by a nuclear attack submarine.

This foray into the Barents Sea is not the first. In 2018 and 2019, US naval air groups deployed within the Arctic Circle. Which did not fail to irritate Moscow.

As for the transit without assistance of the support and assistance vessel of the French Navy Rhône in September 2018, it also sparked a vehement reaction from the Russian government.

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