12 European countries urge EU to boost Arctic role in face of Russia

ROVANIEMI, Sept 14: Twelve European countries meeting in Finland on Monday urged the European Union to beef up its presence in the Arctic, a geopolitical battleground caught between Russia and US President Donald Trump.

"We call for the European Union to take on a more strategic and proactive role in the European Arctic," the countries' leaders wrote in a joint statement following a European-Arctic Summit in the town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, attended by Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and Sweden, among others.

Trump's repeated threats to bring Greenland a vast, autonomous Danish territory -- under US control have triggered.

Pointing to "the significant and long-term threat Russia poses", countries said Moscow's ambitions to increase its influence in the Arctic and its "hostility towards Europe, including the increase in hybrid activities, highlight the need to strengthen the EU's Arctic policy".�"AFP