Russia is banging its Arctic war drums again this week, with the release of a report warning that it cannot rule out “problems that involve the use of military force” along its borders.

The strategy document was approved on Tuesday by President Dmitry Medvedev (Reuters, CanWest News).

Other nations, including Canada and the United States, are eyeing up potential oil resources under the Arctic. Thinning sea ice and a UN convention that allows countries to claim rights to the sea floor if they can fulfil certain criteria are also raising the frequency of sabre rattling over the cold region.

“The Russians have been talking very co-operatively, but they have been backing it up with an increasingly strong military set of actions,” Rob Huebert, a University of Calgary political scientist, told CanWest. “You mix uncertain boundaries with major powers and massive amounts of oil and gas, and you always get difficult international circumstances.”

The Times opines that “Unlike the Antarctic, there is still no international treaty governing the Arctic. There should be. What the Arctic urgently needs is a fleet of lawyers, not a fleet of gunboats.”

(From the Times, see also: Kremlin keeps up James Bond theme with talk of Arctic war.)

Previous Nature coverage of this topic

Norway’s undersea dominions just got larger – 16 April 2009

Europe crashes the Arctic party – 21 November 2008

Arctic cold war gets hotter again – 13 August 2008

Arctic mapping redraws borders – 15 February 2008

Mapping the Arctic dispute – 06 August 2008

Sea floor claims madness – 21 April 2008

Climate change ‘could lead to conflict with Russia’ – 10 March 2008

Russian pole stunt’s American origin – 19 February 2008

News Feature: The next land rush – 2 January 2008