“The West will block everything Russia is.” What about the development of the Arctic?

arctic projects

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the development of the Arctic, at which, among other things, the socio-economic development of these regions of Russia and international cooperation in the region, the development of the Northern Sea Route were discussed.

“Hundreds of thousands of our citizens live and work on the territory of the Arctic. Almost all areas of national security of our country are concentrated: the environment, resources, military-political, technological,” said Putin.

In this context, he noted that today, under the pressure of sanctions, all projects and plans related to the region should be given special importance and should not be postponed.

“On the contrary, we must respond to attempts to hinder our development with the maximum increase in the pace of both current and long-term tasks,” Putin said.

As the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yury Trutnev noted, today more than 460 state-sponsored projects are implemented in the Arctic, the volume of investments under the agreements exceeds 1.3 trillion rubles.

According to him, as a result of their implementation, 30,000 jobs will be created.

Putin asked the government and the heads of the regions related to the Arctic to take control of the construction of all social facilities. “Open: kindergartens, schools, hospitals, feldsher-obstetric stations. Everything envisaged by our programs and national projects must be implemented,” he said.

He also talked about the Northern Latitude Railway project, which will relieve the Baikal-Amur Main Line (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib), which is extremely important given the reorientation of exports to the East. According to him, active construction of the North Latitude Railway should begin in 2022.

In addition, Putin called for approval of a consolidated plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route by 2035 to ensure reliable and safe transportation of goods.

Can these plans be implemented?

Oleg Barabanov, Professor of the Faculty of International Relations, said that Russia should rely on its own strength in the development of the Arctic, in the development and maintenance of the transport structure in the Arctic along the Northern Sea Route. National Research University School of Economics World Economy and World Policy Department, Valdai Club Program Director.

“The question is whether there will be enough money for it and whether the Arctic will be a priority in conditions where almost the entire industry of the country has to be upgraded from scratch to make it independent. Here, the development of the Arctic can fade into the background.

I believe that Arctic projects will disappear because they are not the main financial priority, ”the expert told socialbites.ca.

Valdai Club program director Timofey Bordachev believes that difficulties can arise only to the extent that projects depend on technological capabilities that Russia cannot currently replace, or that Russia is not yet ready to invite alternative partners such as the Chinese.

“That’s the only reason – it has to do with technological, economic warfare.

Prior to the conflict with the West, Russia did not particularly welcome China’s participation in the Arctic and related projects. Accordingly, efforts will have to be made to invite the Chinese to some projects,” he said.

He told socialbites.ca.

international cooperation

During the meeting, in particular, Western countries participating in the Arctic Council on 3 March suspended participation in any forum events and refused to send representatives to Russia under the Association. This is stated in a joint statement by Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United States. They took this step to protest the events in Ukraine.

U.S. State Department Arctic Coordinator Jim DeHart later said that U.S. officials currently cannot say under what conditions they would be ready to resume interaction with Russia at the Arctic Council (AC) – these criteria are still difficult to formulate.

“We will now have to decide how to continue this very important work that we have done in parliament. <...>, hitherto without the participation of Russia. And how to do this in a way that preserves the Arctic Council for the future, because we are not trying to change its composition. But for now we need to take a break and figure this out,” Dehart said.

As Vladimir Putin said at the meeting, Russia is open to cooperation with all countries working in the Arctic. In confirmation of this, he sought the existence of various preferences for Russian and foreign business in the Russian Arctic regions. The President noted that under the current conditions, non-regional countries should also be involved in the development of the region.

“There will be enough jobs for everyone here. We will offer joint work to anyone who, like Russia, is interested in the sustainable development of this unique region,” said Putin.

In his opinion, a number of foreign companies do not fulfill their obligations, and as a result of the actions of hostile countries, a number of transport logistics chains were disrupted. The head of state said that in the current situation this poses some difficulties, but the Russian Federation “has the resources and every opportunity to quickly find alternative solutions and further strengthen our independence from external factors in the long term.”

Timofey Bordachev notes that the main difficulty lies in the fact that the United States and its allies prevent any form of interaction with Russia, except for a separate narrow spectrum of trade issues.

“They know very well that not all international institutions, forums play a big role, and with their help you can once again block their work, at least until certainty, to show their determination in the fight against Russia.

I think that in the near future, the West will adhere to such a position in matters connected with the Arctic, that is, it will block everything in which the participation of the Russian Federation is. Valdai Club.

Oleg Barabanov noted that many previously developed Arctic projects will be frozen both through the Arctic Council and through bilateral relations with Western countries heading to the Arctic.

“The question is how much interest will remain between East and South Asian countries in cooperation with the Russian Arctic, partly independent, partly because they have co-operative ties with Russia, as both China and India have declared their very ambitious Arctic programs.” said the expert.

Military-strategic importance of the Arctic

According to the Russian President, Russia sees the Arctic not as a site for geopolitical intrigues, but as a site for dialogue, stability and constructive cooperation.

At the same time, Oleg Barabanov, a specialist from the Higher School of Economics, admitted:

military tensions may increase in the region.

“We can expect military tensions to increase in the Arctic. This is due to global warming and the possibility of using the Arctic Ocean for military operations. So the situation here too will become more complicated,” he said.