OTTAWA, ON (September 30, 2025):
The Kremlin often employs Russian media to promote its own contradictions and cast the Arctic as both a source of national strength and a theatre rife with foreign threats. In recent years, its attention has turned to the North American Arctic, often depicted as a “bridgehead” for NATO aggression.
In Distorted reality – Putin’s media on the North American Arctic, Senior Fellow Alexander Dalziel traces the Kremlin’s narratives through three Russian news sources from January 2014 to mid-January 2025, showing how they depict Canada, Greenland, the US, and Denmark as conspiring to militarize the Arctic and thwart Russia’s ambitions.
“Russian media mostly sees Canada, Denmark, and Greenland as either passive spaces in which the US can largely do what it wants, or as in league with US goals and intentions, which centre on containing Russia and denying it the natural resources and shipping lanes of the Arctic,” explains Dalziel.
For Dalziel, understanding the Kremlin’s narratives is critical: while Canada and her allies have no control over how Russian media distorts reality, they can still respond by presenting a clear and inclusive vision of the region that includes Indigenous voices and respects Greenland’s self-determination.
Dalziel notes that depicting North American Arctic countries as aggressive primes Russian audiences to accept their government’s own aggressive actions. Canada and the US must respond by forging a unified security agenda with Denmark and Greenland.
“With a comprehensive plan for the future of North America’s Arctic, there will be less room for Russian falsehoods and distorted realities,” writes Dalziel.
To learn more, read the full paper here:
Alexander Dalziel is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute who spent over 20 years in Canada’s national security community.
For further information, media are invited to contact:
Skander Belouizdad
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Skander.belouizdad@macdonaldlaurier.ca
