Arctic Yearbook 2014
424
(MOD: Copenhagen, 24 June 2009); A special Arctic strategy was adopted in 2011.
(Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Greenland Department of Foreign Affairs
and Faroe Islands Foreign Service, Kongerigets Danmarks Strategi for Arktis 2011–2020
[The Kingdom of Denmark’s strategy for the Arctic 2011–2020] (MFA: Copenhagen,
Aug. 2011).; In July 2009 the Danish Parliament approved a plan for an Arctic military
command and task force to be set up by 2014 (Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Greenland Department of Foreign Affairs and Faroe Islands Foreign Service; The Arctic
Military Command will merge the Greenland and Faroe Islands commands and will be
headquartered in Nuuk, Greenland (ibid.)
17. Norwegian defence policy is guided by the 2007 Soria Moria Declaration on
International Policy, which gave the north of Norway and Svalbard a priority in national
defence. (Office of the Norwegian Prime Minister, ‘The Soria Moria declaration on
international
policy’,
4
Feb.
2007,
;
Norwegian
Ministry of Defence (MOD), Norwegian Defence: Facts and Figures 2011 (MOD: Oslo,
2011), p. 30.
18. The US Arctic Policy was firstly presented in 1994, than it was replaced during the
President Bush administration in 2009 - White House, ‘Arctic region policy’, National
Security Presidential Directive no. 66 and Home land Security Presidential Directive no.
26,
9
Jan.
2009,
; The Arctic was
not mentioned at all in a January 2012 document outlining security priorities for the 21st
century. Later on, in May 2013, the US published its National Strategy For the Arctic
Region,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/nat_arctic_strategy.pdf
The new strategy is being unveiled as the United States begins preparations to take over
the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council. (http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/u-sunveils-military-strategy-arctic/ )
19. Russia’s latest Arctic military exercises took place in March 2014, when paratroopers (a
350-strong battalion) landed on the New Siberian Islands. Such an exercise was realized
for the first time in Russian history (Ria Novosti 2014a).
20. The most prominent military capabilities located in the US part of the Arctic are
connected with the air force basis in Alaska, which are dealing with Russian far east, and
– as the most recent development – the built up anti-missile capabilities tailored for
countering missile threat from north east Asia. It means that the most important US
military capabilities in the Arctic, notably Alaska, are there to counter security threats and
challenges rooted in other-than-Arctic regions. The American military capabilities directly
associated with the Arctic remain limited, if we do not count with air force dealing with
Russian air forces and long-range strategic bombers.
21. Norway has always played an irreplaceable role from the NATO strategic point of view.
The latest NATO military exercise “Cold Response” took place in March 2014 in
Harstad (northern Norway), which included nearly 16,000 troops from 16 different
NATO countries to train high-intensity operations in an extremely challenging coldPadrtová