The most recent Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit attracted a sizeable crowd of world leaders to Milan last week (October 16–17), but the formal agenda was overtaken by the efforts to manage the violent conflict between Russia and Ukraine and facilitate dialogue between presidents Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko. The European Union sought to deploy… Read more »
Author: Arctic Politics
Russian military keep conquering the Arctic
Guns are not quite silent in the devastated Donbass, and Putin’s order to withdraw troops from the border area is no different from his several prior zigzags in manipulating this conflict, so that no real redeployments are taking place. What is happening in this pause, is the new spike in Russian military activities in the… Read more »
What about Rosneft new discovery?
The Arctic ice has reached its seasonal minimum, and it is now clear that 2014 is the sixth lowest on the satellite record, but still quite a lot icier than 2012. It is exactly in this optimal “window” that Rosneft has announced that the drilling from the Unviersitetskaya platform in the Kara sea did found… Read more »
High season for military activities in the High North
The new round of US and EU sanctions targets very specifically exploration projects in the Arctic, so both Exxon-Mobil and Statoil announce postponements and cancellations in their respective partnership plans with Rosneft. The Western majors hardly have ay regrets about it – doing business in Russia in general, and with Rosneft in particular, becomes bad for business… Read more »
Russia talks against militarization of the Arctic – and goes for it
As Russian tanks roll into Ukraine, President Putin promised to act according to the international law in the Arctic. In the same breath, however, he reminded that US strike submarines are concentrated “near Norwegian shores” and their missiles could reach Moscow in 15-16 minutes. The commitment to upgrading the military infrastructure in the High North… Read more »
Russian August in the Arctic
August is a particular month in the Russian political calendar: It was the Kursk day last week, and this week – it is day of tanks in Prague (21 August 1968) and the day of tanks in Moscow (19-22 August 1991). These days, tanks are rolling over the streets of Donetsk and Luhansk – but… Read more »
The Kursk day
Tommorow is indeed the Kursk day – it was on August 12, 2000 that the proud but unfortunate submarine sunk after an explosion on board during exercises in the Barents Sea. This picture of its crew (from a BBC documentary) marks a moment of remembrace. It is rather striking that on the eve of this day,… Read more »
The sanctions and the Arctic
In the debates on the impact of tougher sanction imposed by the US and the EU last week, one of the key issues is the scope of problems that Russia will encounter in developing the “green” oil and gas fields in the Arctic. The Economist calls it Arctic Chill, and many other media speculate that Rosneft will have to… Read more »
Ministry for the Arctic affairs?
A project for setting a ministry for the Arctic region – similar to the recently created ministries for the Far East, the North Caucasus, and the Crimea – is under consideration in the government, according to Nezavisimaya. Any bureaucratic analogy with the Crimean issue should better be avoided, but the article argues proudly that “Events around… Read more »
The Arctic cosmodrome setback
Strictly speaking, the Plesetsk cosmodrome is not in the Arctic – it sits on the 63rd parallel, while the Arctic circle goes at 66° 33′ 44″ N. However, it has a prominent place in Russian Arctic policy, so the failure to launch the new Angara space rocket on June 27 is a major setback for this policy. Russian… Read more »