Malign Putin eyes new Cold War as he plots from Arctic

RUSSIA could use the melting polar ice caps as a short cut for cable-cutting submarines targeting the UK's infrastructure.

- Marco Giannangeli

A new House of Lords report has warned that military setbacks in Ukraine and the accession of Sweden and Finland to Nato will only increase the importance of the Arctic for Vladimir Putin.

Its transformation from "an area of high cooperation and low tension" to a hot zone will also be accelerated by Russia's ally China.

It could attempt to militarise the region as it seeks to establish a "polar silk road" for its goods and services abroad.

Climate scenarios predict the central Arctic Ocean will be largely ice free in summer by 2045. And it is believed this will lead to Beijing increasing its maritime activity and resource extraction as it opens up trade routes to Europe and North America.

But it is Russia which poses "the most serious security threat", said Lord Ashton of Hyde, chairman of the International