Meeting of Chiefs of Defence Staff of Arctic was held at Canadian Air Forces Base Goose Bay on April 12-13, 2012. The Russian delegation was headed by General Nikolai Makarov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia. He arrived on the invitation of his Canadian counterpart and the host of the event – General Walt Natynczyk, Chief of Defence Staff of Canada, who has recently been to Moscow with a working visit. The meeting aimed at strengthening common understanding of the practical challenges related to operating in the Arctic, sharing best practices regarding military support to civil authorities in the North, and reinforcing the concept that the region is one of cooperation and collaboration. The issues of search and rescue operations in high latitudes, environmental situation in the Arctic, as well as interrelation of military and indigenous population had also been discussed. All participants have agreed that the Arctic states bear responsibility for security in the Northern region and decided to conduct such meetings of Chiefs of Defence Staff annually.

On the margins of the meeting Gen. Natynczyk and Gen. Makarov had a bilateral conversation, where they touched upon the condition and prospects of military cooperation between the two countries, as well as other matters of mutual interest. They stressed the increased collaboration between Russian and Canadian Armed Forces. Among recent examples of such interaction are: military exchanges on providing security to the Olympic Games, visit of the Russian Navy’s missile cruiser “Varyag” to the port of Vancouver, joint participation in search and rescue, as well as in Air Force “Vigilant Eagle – 2011” exercises.

Both sides agreed that the fact of holding such multilateral Arctic meeting of high-ranked military officials is an excellent evidence of the strong intension by all Northern states to bolster joint efforts in the region and consider the Arctic an area of cooperation rather than confrontation.