By Ismail Shakil and Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Russia’s capabilities in the North pose a strategic challenge for NATO, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, welcoming Canada’s recently announced investments in U.S. defense systems. after his first visit to the Canadian Arctic.

“The importance of the High North is growing for NATO and Canada as we see a significant increase in Russian military presence,” Stoltenberg said, alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Cold Lake, Alta.

Russia has reopened hundreds of Soviet-era military installations in the Arctic, using the region to test new weapons systems, Stoltenberg said. He also warned that Russia and China were forming a strategic partnership in the Arctic that challenges NATO values ​​and interests.

Canada has been criticized for investing too little in its military capabilities as a member of NATO. But after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Canadian government announced in June that it would invest C$4.9 billion (US$3.8 billion) over the next six years to modernize the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), the joint American and Canadian defense organization.

“The geopolitical situation has changed over the past few months, so the understanding that Russia is a growing concern for all of us makes it timely for us to share with the Secretary General and with NATO all that Canada does through NORAD,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau and Stoltenberg traveled Thursday to Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, a village above the Arctic Circle where an air defense radar outpost is located. It is part of Norad’s North Warning System, which experts say is in dire need of updates.

The system, which is more than six decades old, detects security threats in North America, and its early warning radar for the polar region dates from the late 1980s.

Trudeau and Stoltenberg agreed that climate change is making the Arctic more accessible to economic and military activity, which raises security concerns.

Cambridge Bay is one of the main ports of call for ships passing through the Northwest Passage of the Arctic Ocean, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The United States has disputed Canada’s sovereignty over the passage for decades, saying it is an international waterway.

Asked about the issue of sovereignty on Friday, Trudeau said: “The Northwest Passage is part of Canadian waters. Period.”