White House Highlights Need for US-Russia Cooperation in Arctic

National Security Council Russia Director Chris Kofron affirmed that the US government should consider making an exception to cooperate with Russia on "life and death" issues in the Arctic area.

During a meeting at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Thursday, Kofron highlighted that the two parties should join forces in running and maintaining the International Space Station (ISS).

"In outer space, we have carved out life and death exceptions for cooperating with the Russians: Maybe this could be a model for the Arctic," Kofron told the meeting, which was entitled, "Deterring Russia in the High North."

Nevertheless, he noted that the US and its NATO partner nations with territory in the Arctic such as Denmark, Norway, and Canada, and now about-to-join Finland and Sweden should not expect any reliable partnership with Russia in current conditions while the conflict in Ukraine continues.

"Russia has a bastion defense mindset (in the Arctic) ...We don't think Russia will cooperate with other Arctic nations in good faith. ... Russia seems to have linked cooperation in all spheres to our support for Ukraine," he said.