Arctic Yearbook 2014 | Page 437

Arctic Yearbook 2014 437 existing international law and good will. We remain committed to the framework of the Law of the Sea, and to the peaceful resolution of disputes generally” (2013: 2). Second, the recent military build-ups have been to date neither very strong in force projection nor specifically directed towards the Arctic. They are rather a logical response to a quickly melting environment, which for example requires a strengthening of the Arctic countries’ northern border security infrastructure in order to counter potential threats through for example smuggling or human trafficking (Wezeman 2012b; Lind 2014; Wezeman 2014; Bergh 2014). As Siemon Wezeman from SIPRI states: “There are of course in Russia a number of clear points into the direction of a stronger military presence in the Arctic, [...] most likely a number of extra patrol vessels, a number of extra bases along the northern axis of Russia, but nothing in the direction of