Freezing of russia's arctic chairmanship

Abstract

The author overviews the main results of Russia's chairmanship of the Arctic Council (AC, Council) in 2021-2023, analyses its relationship with domestic and international governance. Four main periods of the Russian chairmanship are defined. It is noted that due to the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian chairmanship was boycotted by Western countries. In the conditions of geopolitical instability, the Russian Federation managed to organise most of the planned events. During this period Russia concentrated on the infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route, the socio-economic development of the Arctic regions of the Russian Federation. However, due to the position of the Western countries, it was not possible for Russia to fully achieve and implement the scheduled activities. It negatively affected the work of the Organising Committee, representative ministries, departments, Arctic regions and scientific organisations. The course of the chairmanship was disorganized. May 2023 Russia remotely handed over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council to Norway, hoping to restore the former status. The Russian Federation believes that the problems of the Arctic region can be solved only through balanced and mutually beneficial international cooperation.