VESTMANNAEYJAR, Iceland — Arctic security and Russia's invasion of Ukraine were top of mind as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Iceland Sunday for a two-day summit with Nordic leaders.
Trudeau is a guest at the annual meeting of leaders from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, where global security was already high on the agenda before 24 hours of chaos in Russia threw even more uncertainty into the mix.
At the beginning of a bilateral meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Trudeau said the complicated events in Russia over the last two days will form a large part of the meeting's discussions.
"We're watching carefully the situation in Russia right now as it's been complex over the past couple of days," he said.
On Saturday Trudeau convened his government's incident response group, and G7 foreign ministers held a call as the world kept watch on news out of Russia of an armed rebellion by the mercenary Wagner Group that has been helping the Russian military invade Ukraine.
Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led his troops through several Russian cities and got within 200 kilometres of Moscow Saturday before calling the whole thing off, allegedly through a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It remains unclear exactly what Prigozhin intended with his armed march and what effect it will have longer term on Putin's hold on power or his ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
After landing in Iceland, Trudeau immediately discussed the situation in Russia by phone with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United States President Joe Biden.
On Twitter, Zelenskyy said he offered Trudeau Ukraine's assessment of what he referred to as the "attempted coup" in Russia and the impact Ukraine thinks it will have on the Russian hostilities in his country.
Russia's invasion had already caused new problems for Arctic security before this latest turn of events.
Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway have all voiced support for Ukraine since Russia launched its attack, and they, along with Canada and the United States, hit pause on working with Russia through the Arctic Council after its invasion in February 2022.
Mathieu Landriault, director of the Observatory for Arctic Policy and Security, said the issue remains "fragile," adding that without co-operation with Russia — which has a huge Arctic coastline — the council does not have data related to how climate change is affecting a major part of the region.
Landriault also suggested Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused Canada to "reassess" its position in the Arctic.
Roland Paris, a former senior adviser to Trudeau and director of the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said cutting Russia out of the Arctic council talks turned what co-operation looks like in the region into a serious question.
NATO has also been paying increasing attention to the Arctic in light of aggression from both Russia and China, Paris added. The Nordic leaders' summit is happening less than three weeks before NATO leaders travel to Lithuania to meet with allies and discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Sweden is the only Nordic country not a member of the military alliance but is seeking membership. Canada was the first country to ratify that request.
Trudeau told Orpo Canada is very happy Finland joined NATO in April and noted that Canada was the first to support that application as well.
After meeting the Finnish prime minister, Trudeau posed for a photo with Iceland Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir. Trudeau said there was lots to talk about, including the "situation in the world." Jakobsdottir said the Arctic topped her list of discussion topics, as well as climate, biodiversity and "societal resilience," referring to the theme of the conference.
Landriault said the meeting in Iceland serves as a chance for Canada and the Nordic countries to demonstrate further support for Sweden's entry into NATO, which Turkey and Hungary have not endorsed.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned of growing threats to Arctic sovereignty from Russia and China during a visit to a military base in northern Alberta last summer, noting China has declared itself a "near Arctic" state and climate change was opening up access to the region.
Trudeau, who accompanied Stoltenberg on that visit, touted plans to spend billions on bolstering Canada's military, including modernizing the aging Canada-U. S. Norad system which monitors Arctic aerospace.
Paris said he expects Trudeau may draw attention to those same commitments during his visit to Iceland.
"The fact is we are far behind where we need to be in order to secure the Arctic in a world where it will increasingly be an area of geopolitical competition," he said.
The meeting is taking place on a group of islands known as Vestmannaeyjar and coincides with the 50th anniversary of a volcanic eruption there.
Trudeau's office said the summit offers a chance to advance common interests with the Nordic nations, which range from protecting the environment and developing clean energy to tackling security challenges.
Besides a shared interest in security, the Canadian government also has trade interests with the five Nordic countries, with two-way trade totalling roughly $13 billion last year.
Canada is also home to the largest number of Icelandic immigrants and descendants outside that country.
The two countries view each other as like-minded and share interests on a range of issues, including the development of carbon capture and storage technology and ocean protection.
Trudeau was greeted Sunday at the Keflavik International Airport by Hlynur Guðjónsson, Iceland's ambassador to Canada and Jeannette Menzies, Canada's representative in Iceland, as well as the country's chief protocol officer.
Trudeau's visit follows Iceland President Gudni Jóhannesson's recent visit to Canada, where the pair discussed expanding co-operation in green energy, ocean technology and aquaculture.
That trip, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon's visit to Finland earlier this year and a 2022 Canada-Denmark agreement to resolve the border dispute over Hans Island were all signs that Canada was looking to enhance its diplomatic focus on Nordic countries, said Landriault.
"It's likely to increase," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2023.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
