Trudeau off to Iceland to meet Nordic leaders ahead of NATO, amid Arctic uncertainty

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on his way to meet with Nordic leaders ahead of an upcoming NATO summit and as uncertainty looms over the future of the Arctic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on his way to meet with Nordic leaders ahead of an upcoming NATO summit and as uncertainty looms over the future of the Arctic.

Trudeau is travelling to Iceland, which will host leaders from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway over the next two days for an annual gathering of Nordic prime ministers.

Leaders from Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands are also attending.

Iceland's government says "societal resilience" will be discussed at the meeting, which is being staged on a group of islands known as Vestmannaeyjar and coincides with the 50th anniversary of a volcanic eruption there.

Trudeau is to appear as a guest, and his office says it is a chance to advance common interests with the Nordic nations, which range from protecting the environment and developing clean energy to tackling security challenges.

The talks come a little more than two weeks before leaders travel to Lithuania to meet with NATO allies and discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

World leaders also kept a watchful eye on internal strife in Russia this weekend after mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led troops from his private Wagner Group in an armed rebellion as he called for the ouster of the country's defence minister.