Security of Arctic and Polar areas is ‘on thin ice’ as Russia steps up activity

Martin Docherty-Hughes warned the UK must develop a “comprehensive strategy” to meet developing and emerging threats identified in a defence sub-committee report on the region.

The report follows on from the Defence Committee’s last major publication on security implications of a resurgent Russia, which identified the Arctic and High North as an area where it might try to expand its presence and influence.

This latest report examines the rising military activity in the region in more detail and concluded that there was an urgent need for the UK Government to strategically react.

However, it warned that, as in other recent Defence Committee reports, the Government would be unable to do so as “platforms and capabilities which might have a role in the High North are heavily committed elsewhere, and with the Modernising Defence programme still to be completed, there is no indication of new resources being applied”.

Docherty-Hughes, the SNP member for West Dunbartonshire, said: “For a nation like Scotland, the security of the North Atlantic and High North should be our bread and butter, yet again we see it being overlooked – indeed in the UK Government’s most recent Defence Review it was not mentioned once.

“I fully support the report’s findings which suggest that an inadequate number of platforms, such as the case of the new Boeing Poseidon P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft, mean that we will have to remain reliant on contributions from allies in order to adequately ensure the security of our own doorstep.

“The Secretary of State himself admitted that there has been a ‘tenfold’ increase in Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic, and so the UK Government is aware of the threat – one which also now encompasses the potential of interference in the undersea cables that carry so much information.

“If the UK Government is unable to adequately participate in the security of the High North, then it shows their defence capability is on thin ice.”

The committee said it was clear that changes in the natural environment in the Arctic and High North were having “a significant effect on the security environment”.

Although the region is characterised by low tension, the committee said it could not be taken for granted it would remain this way and the renewed presence of a revisionist state in the region gave rise to the risk that the situation could change swiftly.

“Military activity is rising in the region in response to this new uncertainty and its strategic importance to the UK requires the Government to react,” it said.

“The UK sustains a range of capabilities which could play decisive roles. The recent focus on expeditionary operations in hot weather climates has however reduced the focus on the importance of sustaining specialist capability needed to operate in the Arctic and High North.

“New efforts should be made to regenerate this expertise.”

The committee noted a rise in military activity in the Arctic and High North led by Russia. This had included construction and re-activation of manned bases along its Arctic coastline and on its islands on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, as well build-up of heavily armed, Arctic-trained land forces near the borders of neighbouring states.

Strategic bomber flights over Northern airspace had also been re-introduced, along with the progressive installation of long-range missile and air defence systems and a marked increase in the level of naval activity.

The committee said this went beyond what would be proportionate to a purely defensive posture and should be a matter of concern given Russia’s aggressive and revisionist behaviour.

“These developments have potentially serious strategic implications for the United Kingdom and for Nato,” it said.

“The increase in Russian submarine activity around the British Isles and the entrances to the North Atlantic poses risks to the UK’s maritime security, including the security of the nuclear deterrent, and could compromise Nato’s ability to convey reinforcements from North America in the event of a crisis in Europe.

“In the past the UK has committed substantial resources to the defence of the region.

“The sub-committee calls for the UK to revive its leadership in defence of the region, and for the renewed focus within Nato on the security of the North Atlantic to be accompanied by a renewed focus on the source of the threat emanating from the High North.

Madeleine Moon, the Labour MP who chairs the sub-committee, said: “The UK has previously played a leading role in defending Nato’s Northern Flank and in maintaining maritime security in the North Atlantic.

“The importance of this role is now returning to significance.

“The UK’s capabilities to perform these tasks still exist, but they are sustained at a low level and are in high demand elsewhere.

“A new level of ambition backed up by adequate resources is required to meet the developing threats we have identified.”