Michael de Laine

By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 10 August 2009

For 50 years, the South Pole has been free of nuclear weapons. Can this be done for the North Pole as well?

Fifty years ago, 19 months of discussions and negotiations resulted in an international treaty that turned the Antarctic into a region without weapons.

According to the Antarctic Treaty’s article 1, the South Pole is to be used for peaceful purposes only. Military activity, such as weapons testing, is prohibited, but military personnel and equipment may be used for scientific research or any other peaceful purpose.

Article 5 prohibits nuclear explosions or disposal of radioactive wastes.

This treaty has since been followed by other treaties that have set up nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZs) in Latin America, the South Pacific, South-East Asia and Central Asia. Mongolia declared itself a NWFZ in 1992, and Africa is only one ratification away from making another continent entirely nuclear weapon free.

All these NWFZs were established in regions where nuclear weapons were absent.

At the North Pole, however, the Soviet Union and its successors in the Russian Federation and the USA have have watched each other closely for political reasons since the end of World War II. They have built up nuclear arsenals and their nuclear-powered warships and submarines have patrolled the Arctic as part of their defences.

Recent reports about two Russian submarines patrolling the waters outside USA have created concern that Russia is upscaling its presence in foreign waters, but Russian Navy officials claim that Russian submarines never stopped patrolling the world’s oceans, reported BarentsObserver.com.

“Russian submarines never stopped patrolling the world’s oceans, but their operations are of a secret character and never commented on by Russian Navy officials,” a high-ranking representative from the Russian Navy Headquarters told RIA Novosti in a comment on the report in New York Times. “Even in the hard 1990s Russian submarines sailed the oceans on combat alert duty,” the source said.

The American newspaper referred earlier this week to a source in the Pentagon who said that a pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines had been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States and called it “a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military”.

The two submarines were reported to be of the Akula-class attack submarines. Both the Russian Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet have several subs of this class.

Citing a government press release, BarentsObserver.com also reported that Russia will next year increase its spending on new military equipment and upgrades with 1.2% to a total of 470 billion roubles (76 billion kroner), despite the current economic crisis and major cuts in public spending.

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov confirmed that the government in 2010 intends to spend 470 billion roubles on new and upgrades equipment for its armed forces.

Being concrete on the most important acquisitions, Ivanov mentioned the development of the country’s strategic missile complexes, modern ships and submarines, as well as aircrafts type Su-27 CM, Su-30 MK-2, Su-35 and Su-34. Russia also intends to invest in the Iskander-M missile complex and the X-102 cruiser missiles for its air force.

However, the deputy Prime Minister did not mention the Borei-class submarines and the Bulava missile complex, although experts say that up to 40% of the military spending currently is invested in these.

Peace activists have wanted to stop the deployment of nuclear weapons in the Arctic region for many years.

Perhaps a combination of the negative effects of global warming, the May 2010 conference reviewing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (also called the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT or NNPT) and the recent agreement between the USA and Russia to discuss further cuts in their nuclear weapons arsenals will be steps on the path towards a nuclear-weapons-free zone around the North Pole.

The rapid shrinking of the Arctic’s polar ice will not only produce rising ocean levels in the region and globally, but will also open Arctic waters to new shipping lanes and exploration of the Arctic seabed previously prevented by an impenetrable ice cap. There is already evidence that increasing commercial and exploratory navigation is producing additional military deployment. This may be connected with countries wishing to protect their territorial claims to the Arctic – which is believed to be rich in natural resources and where as much as 25% of the world’s undiscovered oil reserves may be found.

A seminar arranged by the Danish Institute for International Studies today discussed a number of aspects of creating a nuclear-weapons-free zone around the North Pole. Would a regional NWFZ including those Arctic nations that are already free from nuclear weapons (Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) be a logical first step? What steps can we take to demilitarize and protect the Arctic from accidental or intentional use of nuclear weapons?

The Copenhagen Voice talked about the prospects for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Arctic to professor Michael Hamel-Green, executive dean at the faculty of arts, education and human development at Victoria University in Australia; Adele Buckley, a member of the executive committee of the Pugwash Council in Canada, which is affiliated to the Pugwash Conferences on science and world affairs; and Steven Staples, president of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs, an independent research, advocacy, and consulting group in Canada that provides research, analysis and commentary on public policy issues.

“The Government of Canada has made the Arctic a priority and has developed an Integrated Northern Strategy,” an advisor to Canadian Ambassador Peter Lundy told the Copenhagen Voice. “The strategy rests on four pillars: protecting our environmental heritage, promoting economic and social development, exercising our sovereignty, and improving and devolving governance. Our foreign policy delivers on the international dimension of each of the four elements in this strategy, thereby affirming our leadership, stewardship and ownership in the region.”

According to the Government of Canada’s Arctic region website, Canada has a policy objective of non-proliferation, reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons, which it pursues “persistently and energetically, consistent with our membership in NATO and NORAD and in a manner sensitive to the broader international security context.”

The policy is rooted in the three “pillars” of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, disarmament of nuclear weapons stockpiles and the right of all NPT states to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in accordance with non-proliferation obligations.

In addition, Canadian policy also recognizes the utility of counter-proliferation initiatives to address non-state actors and states that attempt to circumvent the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

“Our responsibility is to strengthen Canada’s national security by formulating, advocating and negotiating effective nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament policies, strategies and agreements in collaboration with other divisions within the Nuclear and Chemical Disarmament Implementation Agency (DFAIT) and with other government departments and agencies,” the government website states.

Click here to read the BarentsObserver.com’s Russian Navy patrol report.

Click here to read the BarentsObserver.com’s military spending report.

Click here to see the interview with Michael Hamel-Green.

Click here to see the interview with Adele Buckley and Steven Staples.

Click here to go to the website of the Danish Institute for International Studies.

Click here to go to the Pugwash website.

Click here to go to the Rideau Institute’s website.

Click here to go to Canada’s Arctic region website.

Click here to go to Canada’s Northern Strategy website.