From Itar-Tass:  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday NATO’s presence in the Arctic is not necessary.

“We can well do without NATO in the Arctic,” Medvedev said after talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Arctic’s natural resources have nothing to do with NATO, “it is a zone of economic cooperation, and the presence of a military factor would create additional problems here,” he said.

From RIA Novosti:  Russia favors international cooperation in the Arctic but without the military component and is concerned by NATO activity in the region, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

"The Russian Federation is keeping a close eye on this activity [NATO in the Arctic] because it [Arctic] is a zone of peaceful and economic cooperation," Medvedev said. …

Medvedev is currently in the northern Russian city of Murmansk where he has been holding talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and overseeing the signing of a deal to delimitate the maritime border between Russia and Norway, which has been under dispute for 40 years.  (photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti)

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