UK's Foreign Minister to Urge NATO to Focus on Arctic in Finland and Norway Visit
Yvette Cooper, UK minister for foreign affairs.
Travelling to Finland and Northern Norway, UKsForeign Secretary will call on NATO to step up its work in the Arctic to protect Euro-Atlantic interests in the region.
Britain's foreign minister Yvette Cooper is visiting Finland and Norway on Wednesday, where she calls for NATO to step up its work in the Arctic to safeguard regional interests against Russia.
Yvette Cooper's Arctic Circle tour follows renewed threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to take over Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers is meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday. Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he stands with Denmark in its defence of Greenland.
Focus on Russia
Cooper's trip will focus on Russia, which the foreign office described in a statement as the "greatest threat" to Arctic security.
In Finland, Cooper met border guards defending NATO's eastern flank with Russia. In Helsinki she met Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.
Arctic security is critical to protecting Britain and NATO
Right now Northern Norway British Royal Marines is taking part in a live training exercise. Cooper will meet with Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide is in Bardufoss Thursday. Together they will meet the British forces exercising in Norway.
The high north, which includes Greenland, is home to key shipping routes and critical infrastructure such as undersea cables, making the region vital to Britain's security, the foreign office said.
"The UK and Norway share a determination to ensure Russia does not succeed in its illegal war of aggression," the foreign office said in a press release, adding that Russia posed a threat through its military activity, risks to undersea infrastructure and the use of its "shadow fleet".
Critical
Britain last week provided support to the U.S. in its operation to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic.
"Arctic security is critical to protecting Britain and NATO," Cooper said, urging the military alliance to enhance efforts to defend Euro-Atlantic interests against "hostile states who seek to meddle" in the high north.
"Coming together as an alliance allows us to unify and tackle this emerging threat," she added, noting that climate change has opened new shipping routes, exposed valuable resources, and turned the region into a "hotspot" for geopolitical competition.
High North News will be back with more news from the Northern Norway visit.
