Russian fighter jets and ships are trying to provoke British and Dutch marines on exercise in the Arctic Circle, one of the Netherlands' most senior military officials has revealed.

General Jeff Mac Mootry, the Dutch Marine Corps' director of operations, described the tense encounters near Norway as part of a "Cold War 3.0," where Russia relies on a combination of military displays and technology to undermine Western governments.

"What we see is there is an increasing interest of Russian naval vessels when we exercise," he told the Telegraph at a briefing in Rotterdam.

"For example, when we do launching exercises as part of our ballistic missile defence programme, we see more Russian ships than normally and they come closer to us than in past decades. They clearly want to make their presence visible."

He added: "We also see Russian fighters fly closer over our warships just to make their presence known, you could almost call it, in a provocative way."

The Arctic Circle is increasingly viewed as key to UK and Nato strategic interests as the melting of the ice caps have opened up new shipping routes being used by Russia and China.