Soviet and American submarines patrolling under Arctic Ocean ice were the stuff of Cold War-era thrillers -- and real-world geopolitics. After the end of the Cold War, many hoped for a lasting peace. But as tensions rise again between Russia and NATO, what is happening militarily in the Arctic?
In a 2020 interview with the Foreign Policy Association's Great Decisions documentary series, Jim Townsend, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs, said, “After the Cold War, we didn't operate up there in that European Arctic as much as we did. Now that's changing. […] The US Navy is relearning anti-submarine warfare in the Arctic Ocean area. We're working very closely with the Norwegians, who never forgot how to do anti-submarine warfare in the Arctic area. […] After the Cold War ended, there was that the period of the 1990s when I think there were great efforts made both in terms of Russia and in terms of the Alliance, European nations, the US. They were trying to move away from the tensions of the Cold War. […] But as you know, after Putin came into power, we saw that turn around, and we saw Russia instead acting aggressively […] So if you talk to the Baltic nations or the Nordic nations, they feel every day very uneasy about where Russia might go next.”
This interview was recorded in 2020.
