Stoltenberg: Russia a Strategic Challenge for NATO in Arctic

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg near a Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft during their visit to CFB Cold Lake in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada August 26, 2022. Adam Scotti/Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg near a Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft during their visit to CFB Cold Lake in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada August 26, 2022. Adam Scotti/Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS
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Stoltenberg: Russia a Strategic Challenge for NATO in Arctic

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg near a Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft during their visit to CFB Cold Lake in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada August 26, 2022. Adam Scotti/Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg near a Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft during their visit to CFB Cold Lake in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada August 26, 2022. Adam Scotti/Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS

Russia's capabilities in the North are a strategic challenge for NATO, its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, welcoming Canada's recently announced investments in North American defense systems after making his first visit to the Canadian arctic.

"The importance of the high North is increasing for NATO and for Canada because we see a significant Russian military buildup," Stoltenberg said, standing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Cold Lake, Alberta.

Russia has reopened hundreds of Soviet-era military sites in the arctic, using the region to test new weapons systems, Stoltenberg said. He also warned that Russia and China were forming a strategic arctic partnership that challenged NATO's values and interests.

Canada has been criticized for spending too little on its military capabilities as a NATO member. But after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, Canada said in June it would invest C$4.9 billion ($3.8 billion) over the next six years to modernize NORAD, the joint US-Canadian North American defense organization.

"The geopolitical situation has shifted over the past months, which is why understanding that Russia is an increasing concern to all of us makes it timely for us to share with the Secretary General and with NATO all the things that Canada is doing through NORAD," Reuters quoted Trudeau as saying.

Trudeau and Stoltenberg visited Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, on Thursday, a hamlet above the Arctic Circle where a radar outpost for air defense is located. It is part of NORAD's North Warning System, which experts say is in dire need of upgrades.

The over six-decade-old system detects security threats to North America, and its early-warning radar for the polar region dates back to the late 1980s.

Both Trudeau and Stoltenberg agreed climate change is making the arctic more accessible for economic and military activities, increasing security concerns.



Bodies of Four Migrants Found as Boat Sinks off Greek Island of Lesbos

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
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Bodies of Four Migrants Found as Boat Sinks off Greek Island of Lesbos

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture

The bodies of four migrants - one boy, one girl and two women - have been recovered from a sinking boat off the Greek island of Lesbos while another 23 migrants were rescued, Greece's coastguard said on Thursday.

The boat was detected by a patrolling coastguard vessel at about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT). A search and rescue operation was still ongoing, a coastguard official said. It was not immediately clear how many people may have been on the boat, Reuters reported.

Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favored gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 2015 nearly 1 million people landed on its islands.

Last year, about 54,000 migrants reached Greece, the second largest number in southern Europe behind Italy. The vast majority of them arrived by sea, according to data from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.