Is Canada ready for Russia’s hardball approach to the North Pole? – by Rob Huebert (Globe and Mail – January 30, 2014)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Rob Huebert is associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. He has written and researched extensively on Arctic policy and defence issues.

When Russian Arctic scientist Artur Chilingarov – member of the Duma and special representative to President Vladimir Putin for the Arctic – planted a Russian flag at the North Pole in 2007, he created a media storm in Canada. Then-defense minister Peter MacKay was particularly critical of the Russian action, saying that this is no longer the 14th or 15th century.

But somewhat surprisingly, many Canadian commentators were not critical of the Russian action, but instead were very critical of Mr. Mackay and the government’s response. It was suggested that Mr. Chilingarov was only acting as a scientist and that this was not official Russian action. (How exactly these commentators knew this was the case was never disclosed.) They also suggested the planting of flag at the North Pole had about as much meaning as the Americans planting a flag on the Moon. As such, the common wisdom developed that Canada overreacted and that the Russians did not mean anything by this action.

It turns out that this was only the opening act for the Russians. This summer, the Smolensk – an Oscar II class nuclear-powered and nuclear-missile-carrying submarine will go to the North Pole to raise the Russian flag. Her captain said in late December that this was a major mission for the submarine, which is just coming out of a two year refit.

Let’s be clear so there is no misunderstanding on this action. A Russian captain is only allowed to say what is official policy – their public comments are more tightly controlled than even Canadian bureaucrats, scientists and military officials. A Russian navy submarine is also an instrument of the state. There can be no doubt that unlike Mr. Chilingarov’s 2007 trip with French submarines, this is a clear expression of state policy. When the captain of the Smolensk goes to the North Pole to plant the Russian flag he is making a clear official political statement by the most powerful military instrument of the Russian state.

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