A U.S. Coast Guard vessel is navigating through the Arctic sea ice.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the decision to open a diplomatic mission in Tromsoe (northern Norway) from June, in a move aimed at demonstrating a "diplomatic footprint in the Arctic Circle ," according to Reuters.
Mr. Blinken referred to the facility as a "presence point," and stated that it does not provide consular services.
Reuters quoted researcher Andreas Oesthagen as saying that this is a significant move, showing that the US views the importance of the Arctic quite differently than it did 5 or 10 years ago.
Tromsoe is Norway's largest city in the Arctic, located approximately 400 km west of Russia. Norway and Russia share a border in the Arctic.
During the Cold War, Washington maintained a diplomatic mission in Tromsoe, but closed it in 1994.
Tromsoe is also home to the Arctic Council, an organization that brings together eight Arctic nations, including Russia, the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark.
Cooperation between the Arctic Council, specifically between Moscow and Western countries, has stalled since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
Recently, some collaborative activities within the council have resumed, but remain limited to the level of senior diplomats, and there has been no exchange between political leaders to date.
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