OREANDA-NEWSThe meeting of the Arctic Forum in Finnish Rovaniemi turned out unexpectedly sharp and scandalous. The author of the scandal was the US Secretary of State (and former CIA director) Mike Pompeo, who decided to use the Arctic summit in order to deliver a verbal blow to the Arctic projects of Russia and China, as well as to declare American claims to the leading role in the Arctic region.

The main Arctic pain of American diplomacy Pompeo formulated in the form of a complaint. It turns out, in his version, "Moscow illegally demands that other countries turn to Russia for permission to use the route through the Arctic Ocean". In fact, Moscow simply designates its rights and establishes its rules in strict accordance with international law, but, as practice shows, for our overseas opponents the very concept of international law exists only if it can be used as a tool of pressure on Washington’s opponents.

The United States has a claim not only to Russia, but also to China, which has got even a more serious dose of criticism and threats. The New York Times recounts the position of the US Secretary of State:“Mr. Pompeo was particularly acute in his remarks about China, which has observer status in the Arctic Council. The idea of forbidding China to be friends with Russia in the Arctic, prohibiting the use of the Arctic Russian trade routes, prohibiting the involvement of other Arctic countries in the large-scale Chinese project “One Belt - One Way”, and also prohibiting loans to these countries for the development of the Arctic transport infrastructure is a very bold proposal American diplomacy".

According to The New York Times, representatives of the participating countries and countries - observers of the Arctic Council (the Arctic Council includes Russia, Canada, USA, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, and China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan are observers) were extremely annoyed by the fact that the forum, which is usually used to jointly solve common Arctic problems with a special focus on environmental cooperation, was turned by the American side into another arena for clarifying relations with geopolitical enemies.