The European Union (EU) presented on Tuesday a new Arctic strategy with monitoring and protection of undersea cables, a direct link between the bloc and Greenland and the expansion of an icebreaker fleet dwarfed by Russia’s, according to the Associated Press, in a text republished by the Los Angeles Times.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that when sovereignty, territorial integrity and the rules that have underpinned stability in the region can no longer be taken for granted, “we have to act and change our strategic posture”. Officials estimate Europe has around 10 icebreakers, most of them in Finland, against around 40 for Russia.