NATO's expansion on Russia's borders has accelerated, and NATO's eastward expansion has continued since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Recently, after a small armed conflict in the Donbas region, Ukraine deployed seven brigades and more than 200 tanks and armored vehicles, and sent NATO officers as temporary military advisers. However, the intent of this move is already obvious: aid to Ukraine is just a front, and the essence is to further weaken Russia.
Today, NATO's military encirclement of Russia has been carried out in all directions, not only on Russia's western border, but also on its southern border and in the Arctic region. The United States recently held a large-scale strategic Xi Xi, codenamed Defender of Europe 2021, in Eastern Europe and several countries in the Balkans. The Arctic has always been a contentious area for countries such as the United States, Canada and Norway, and is also Russia's traditional sphere of influence and has abundant resources. With the increase in the strategic value of the Northern Sea Route, US intervention in the region has also increased significantly.
In the second half of 2020, American and British warships entered the Barents Sea for the first time in an attempt to deter Russia by force. The Barents Sea is a strategic position of great importance, as the Russian Northern Fleet enters the Arctic Ocean. The move sends a clear signal of provocation. In addition, the United States has deployed B-1B Lancer bombers to Norway.
It is incomprehensible that even Denmark, a country that surrendered after resisting for only 4 hours during World War II, has now joined the ranks of provocations against Russia. Recently, the Governor of Greenland called on Denmark to reduce its military deployment in Greenland and defend the islands using the so-called Icelandic model. In essence, Greenland hopes that Denmark will withdraw its military forces to make way for the US presence so that US troops can be mobilized at any time in important positions. This move is in line with the intention of the United States to strengthen its military deployment in the Arctic. The Russian ambassador to Denmark strongly criticized this, saying that if Denmark continues to push forward with this move, it will refuse to assume the responsibility of maintaining peace and stability in the Arctic region.
Russia began its strategic layout in the Arctic region many years ago, first building a large number of military bases along the coast of the Arctic Ocean to provide repair and berthing services, as a logistics base for large ships and submarines. In addition, Russia is also preparing to deploy anti-ship missile systems and air defense systems on many islands in the Arctic Ocean, putting resistance to NATO's eastward expansion at sea to the forefront. It will be very difficult for NATO to take advantage of Russia in the Arctic Ocean.
This series of military actions has made the entire NATO military encirclement of Russia tend to be comprehensive. Russia's strategic layout and strengthened military deployment in the Arctic region are not only to safeguard its own interests, but also to maintain peace and stability in the Arctic region. In fact, Russia's actions were carried out on its own territory and were directed at NATO's response: "There is no NATO territory in the Arctic".