The New York Times reported that the largest Canadian Armed Forces exercises in the Arctic region in 19 years ended in failure.
According to the newspaper, the polar exercises took place near the settlement of Cambridge Bay on the southern coast of Victoria Island, where about 1,300 soldiers were deployed in mid-February, in the largest military force Canada has sent to the region since 2007.
The newspaper noted that the maneuvers were carried out under harsh climatic conditions, with temperatures dropping to below -60 degrees Celsius.
Because of these difficult weather conditions, the Canadian military was unable to remove the CH-47 Chinook helicopter from its hangar, and attempts to conduct live-fire exercises using the M777 howitzer also failed.
There were no reports of injuries among the soldiers participating in these maneuvers.
In a related context, the Russian ambassador to Norway, Nikolai Korchunov, told the Novosti news agency at the end of last February that strengthening the military presence of NATO countries in the Arctic region, directed against Russia and China, would constitute a blow to security and stability in the region.
The Russian diplomat expressed his belief that tension in the Arctic region will continue to escalate as long as political paths are replaced by military ones, and international law is replaced by a rules-based world order.
