The Limits of Partnership by Stent Angela E.;

Author:Stent, Angela E.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2015-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Arctic

On August 2, 2007, the Kremlin dispatched a nuclear-powered ice-breaker and two submarines to plant the Russian flag on the floor for the North Pole’s sea—an act made possible by the warming of the Arctic icecap, which has been melting for some time (summer ice cover, some experts said, could completely vanish in thirty years). Professor Artur Chilingarov, explorer and member of the Duma representing the ruling United Russia party, declared, after planting the Russian tricolor, “The Arctic is ours and we should manifest our presence.”82 A few days later, Russia ordered strategic bomber flights over the Arctic Ocean for the first time since the Cold War, prompting the Canadian foreign minster to retort “Look, this isn’t the 15th century. You can’t go around the world and plant flags and say ‘We’re claiming this territory.’ ” Would this be the next area for U.S.-Russian competition?

The potential stakes are high. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic holds as much as one-quarter of the world’s remaining undiscovered oil and gas deposits, as well as diamonds, gold, platinum, tin, manganese, nickel, and lead. If Arctic melting proceeds at its current pace, major parts of the Arctic ocean will be ice-free in a couple of decades, greatly facilitating seabed mineral resource extraction and opening up the northern sea route as an alternative route between the Atlantic and the Pacific. For the United States, Russia, and the other Arctic littoral states (Canada, Norway, and Denmark), the Arctic involves core national security issues: territorial control, access to energy resources, and accessible transportation. China is also presenting itself as an Arctic power. Russia’s major Arctic policy objective so far has been to promote and protect its claims to continental shelf territories beyond the two-hundred-nautical mile economic exclusion zone provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in order to exploit the natural resources located there. The majority of the Arctic’s energy reserves, according to Moscow, lie within Russia’s zone. The region already provides the Russian economy with 12 to 15 percent of its GDP.83

In 2009 Russia published a document that spells out its policy toward the Arctic. It highlights Russia’s commitment to exploit the significant hydrocarbon reserves there and to develop the Northern Sea Route, a wholly integrated transportation system linking Europe and Asia. The document also discusses the necessity of maintaining a military presence there to ensure security in the region. Overall, the document is quite mild, and hard security issues receive relatively little attention. Russia’s Arctic strategy highlights both the Kremlin’s assertive attitude toward the region and also its willingness to cooperate with the other Arctic states in developing the area.84 Russia continues to claim that the Arctic seabed’s underwater ridges are an extension of Russia’s own continental shelf, and the other Arctic nations dispute these exclusive territorial claims. Nevertheless, the United States and its partners, including Russia, are working together within the Arctic Council, founded in 1996, to promote greater cooperation in the area. Indeed, the Arctic is

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