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Earlier on Monday, Mr Putin ordered the Russian navy's Northern Fleet on to a state of full combat readiness in the Arctic.
It came as more than 45,000 troops, as well as warplanes and submarines, started major military exercises across northern Russia.
"The amount of sea ice in the Arctic has been steadily shrinking over the past few decades due to man-made global warming, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Globally, even though Antarctic sea ice has gotten larger, sea ice has declined overall."