BRITAIN must learn to fight in the Arctic as melting ice caps provide a new battleground with Russia, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned.
Moscow has beefed up its brigade there and regularly uses its High North bases to threaten the heart of Europe, he said.
Speaking on a visit to Swedish Lapland, inside the Arctic Circle, the former Army officer declared: “The Arctic is incredibly important.
“Because of climate change, it’s growing as a place not only of dispute, but also of opportunity.”
Britain needed to learn to “deploy rapidly to the High North if we need to support our allies”, he added, pointing to the threat from Russian long-range bombers and hunter killer subs based there.
The Royal Marines are Britain’s specialist arctic troops but Wallace said a new Arctic Strategy, due next year, would see more troops spend more time in the High North.
Mr Wallace, a former Scots Guards officer, was greeted in the arctic circle by Sami indigenous locals and a reindeer.
