On Thin Ice? (Mis)interpreting Russian Policy in the High North. Safeguarding the Arctic. The Arctic has become the focus of everyone’s attention ever since a Russian deepwater expedition led by members of the State Duma installed the Russian tricolor on the floor of the Arctic Ocean in August 2007. Discussions have sprung up everywhere about the prospects for strong competition for resources in that region and even the topic of climate change has acquired a geopolitical flavor – “the Arctic ice is thinning, it is now easier to take out what’s down there.” A general stir among journalists and politicians plays into the hands of experts. The expert community – in Russia and beyond – has long complained about the lack of government interest in that crucial part of the world. Meanwhile, the situation has brought forth new challenges and one of them confronts the Russian military, which has become accustomed to viewing the Arctic as its own personal fiefdom.
The nuclear truncheon has doubled its importance for Russia. The situation exposed one more very unpleasant truth. Labyrinths of the Arctic Policy. The North and especially the Arctic have been a priority in Russian foreign policy since the early 2000s. This is due to many factors, above all a stronger emphasis on the energy aspect of this policy. This includes building export pipelines and implementing transport projects in northern and northwestern Russia, ranging from the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS), launched in 2001, to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which will be laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Interest in the Arctic increased after the publication of reports about the enormous natural resource potential of the region.
Those reports sparked an unprecedented interest in the region among the leading countries of the world, as well as among major oil and gas companies, and caused Moscow to increase the pace of delimiting the borders of its northern possessions. The institutional and legal structure of the Arctic region is still taking shape.
A similar situation is taking shape with regard to the Nord Stream project. Russia and the Arctic: Parachuting In. La Russie et l'Arctique. Без боевых пингвинов. Эта статья является комментарием к: Россия значительно усилит охрану своих северных границ. Что и как будет для этого сделано, какие новые подразделения появятся - говорится в базовом документе "Основы государственной политики РФ в Арктике на период до 2020 года и дальнейшую перспективу". Документ не секретный, но тем не менее до недавнего времени он не афишировался. Принят он был на заседании Совета безопасности под председательством президента страны Дмитрия Медведева еще в сентябре прошлого года.
Якобы планируют закладку авианосцев-ледоколов и даже создадут диверсионные подразделения с использованием боевых пингвинов. А что правда? Как пояснили корреспонденту "РГ" в самом Совбезе, вопрос милитаризации Арктики не стоит. Кроме того, в пресс-службе уточнили, что на Севере наша страна будет содержать, как и прежде, лишь необходимую группировку войск общего назначения. Не секрет, что Арктика плохо обжита и слабо освоена. Взоры как минимум пяти стран обратились на Север.
Arctic Resource Policies in Russia.
Putin's Trip to the High North - 2010. Doctrine de sécurité RF.