On February 6, Russia's Ambassador-at-Large Nikolai Korchunov said that the country does not rule out withdrawing from the Arctic Council if the organization's activities do not match Moscow's interests.
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| Russia does not rule out 'withdrawing from the Arctic Council.' (Swoop Arctic) |
The Arctic Council is currently operating “at the slowest possible pace,” Korchunov noted, Sputnik reported. Norway is trying to resume the full work of the Council, but has failed to find support from other countries.
“We will base ourselves on the fact that we must have all options for implementing foreign policy, including withdrawal from the Arctic Council if the organization's activities do not match Russia's interests,” the Russian diplomat said.
Earlier, Mr. Korchunov expressed Moscow's concern about the rift in international cooperation in the Arctic.
There are also reports that Russia will take a series of measures, including preventive ones, in response to the build-up of NATO's military potential in the Arctic.
The Arctic Council, established in 1996, is a high-level intergovernmental forum to promote cooperation in the region, especially in the field of environmental protection.
Members of the council include Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, the United States, Finland and Sweden.
The rotating presidency takes place every two years. Russia has held the rotating presidency since May 2021. In March 2022, the council's Western members announced that they were suspending Moscow from participating in any events of the forum in protest against the special military operation in Ukraine.
In May 2023, Norway assumes the presidency of the Council.
The other seven members of the Arctic Council then stopped all contact with Russia, freezing about half of the 130 joint projects underway.
The Arctic is a region rich in natural resources, with precious metal deposits and containing about one-third of the world's gas reserves and one-quarter of its oil reserves, with a total value of more than 30,000 billion USD.
There are two transoceanic sea routes running through this area, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Northwest Passage (NWP), which connect trade between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
At the current rate of ice loss, the Arctic will be virtually ice-free by the end of the century. This means that cargo ships could operate on the NSR and NWP routes year-round without interruption.
The eight member states of the Arctic Council all have territory in the Earth’s northernmost region. However, only six of them have Arctic coastal status: the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. The other two countries that have territory in the polar region but no Arctic coastal area are Sweden and Finland.
In recent years, many countries far from the Arctic such as India, China, South Korea, Japan, etc. have also paid special attention to this strategically important land.
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