/ world today news/ The United States, with its statement on the expansion of the continental shelf in the Arctic beyond 200 nautical miles, ignores the international format, since such actions cannot be taken unilaterally. The head of the Russian Ministry of Eastern Development, Alexei Chekunkov, reminded Washington of international law, speaking on December 25 on the Rossiya 24 channel.
A day earlier, the State Department notified the world of the expansion of US sovereignty over the Atlantic and Arctic continental shelves to an area twice the size of California.
Only in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea, which belongs to the Pacific Ocean, the Americans have “cut off” about 1 million square meters. kilometers.
At the same time, the White House and the State Department played dirty and did not bother to prove the continuation of the American continent beyond the necessary 200 miles, noted the Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev.
With the increasing importance of the Arctic as a transport artery and storehouse of natural resources, the danger of militarization of the circumpolar regions is increasing, and it is this danger that is visible in the actions of the Americans, who attract the countries of the North in their military plans, stated Minister Chekunkov.
Already in the summer, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned: Moscow will respond, including military-technical, to the West’s attempts to expand NATO’s influence in the Arctic.
Russia will strengthen its naval power in all strategic directions, President Vladimir Putin emphasized at the flag-raising ceremony of the new warships.
About the consequences of the American expansion, about how Russia should act and about the interests of our country in the Arctic latitudes, the Regnum agency spoke with the general director of the expert center “Project Office for the Development of the Arctic”, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia (where he represents Murmansk region) Nikolay Doronin.
IA Regnum: Nikolay Sergeevich, what does a unilateral US demarche mean in practice?
Nikolay Doronin: We are talking about an aggravation of the geopolitical situation in the high latitudes. This is really a unilateral step that does not take into account not only the opinion of Russia, but also of other countries.
For example, Canada, with which the US has the largest land border and which also has claims in the region. The opinion of the other members of the Arctic Council, which, in addition to the USA and Canada, includes five other countries – Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden – was not taken into account. They do not take into account the opinion of the UN, where the US is not only a member, but also a member of the Security Council and all the committees.
IA Regnum: Did the Americans somehow try to justify their actions or was it pure arrogance?
ND: The countries refer to the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, which they have not signed (at the same time, the other Arctic countries are members of the Convention – Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Iceland – IA Regnum).
That is, the document does not apply to the United States, but they refer to it because, according to one of the provisions, it is possible to establish shelf boundaries outside their special exclusive economic zone.
The United States is trying to get back on the Arctic agenda, but there is little chance of that happening. A trip by one of the few US Healy icebreakers north of the Northern Sea Route showed that this was just some kind of “feather test”.
They are trying to figure something out in arctic logistics. And to show that the “world hegemon” and here “number one” actually unilaterally proclaimed the expansion of the shelf. But it’s still a blank shot.
IA Regnum: Our country, as far as we know, also claims part of the Arctic shelf, beyond the 200-mile zone. Can the Russian arguments be called reasoned?
N.D.: Russia was the first to prepare an application for the outer limit of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and submitted it to the UN Secretary General back in 2001.
Yes, our country claims a continental shelf beyond the 200-mile zone, covering an area of over 1.2 million square kilometers. To confirm the statement, for example, in 2007, a truly heroic operation was carried out – Russian bathyscaphes sank to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at a depth of more than 4 km, where the Russian state flag made of titanium was placed.
The Russian application is still under review, as these territories are also claimed by the US, Denmark and Canada. The Americans decided to “cut the Gordian knot”.
In addition, the United States has declared an area in the Arctic over which it still has disagreements with Canada. But they believe they will always reach an agreement with their closest ally.
IA Regnum: There is an opinion that Russia is not so much claiming new spaces as it is seeking to partially regain what it has lost. In fact, on the political maps of the USSR, the sea border was drawn from the Kola Peninsula to the North Pole and from there to Chukotka. Did we have a right to this sector or was that also a claim?
ND: In the 1990s, the general principle of sector division of the Arctic was abolished, from which Russia lost the most.
We lost quite a lot of our marine territories, which, as it turned out later, were rich in all kinds of deposits on the shelf – both hydrocarbon raw materials and solid minerals. That is, there is a lot of stuff on the shelf, and the technology to determine the volume of these deposits has become available relatively recently.
That is why Russia is now trying to justify its claims in the Arctic, based on the principle of the continuation of the continental shelf, this is primarily the Lomonosov Ridge. In essence, this is a partial return to the sectoral principle. That is, we are trying to bring back goodies from the Soviet sector.
In turn, the United States, which by the way did not recognize the sectoral principle, having now announced the extension of the shelf, actually returned to it. But one sided. Such a demarche, bravado.
It is true that the US claims do not cross the current demarcation line with Russia in the Arctic.
IA Regnum: It turns out that all these international legal norms do not actually work, and success in the Arctic can be determined only by the ability and willingness of specific powers to practically protect their interests in the region?
ND: We understand what the United States is as a military power. And they, of course, have the largest fleet in the world. It’s a very diverse fleet – aircraft carrier group, submarine fleet, various escort ships, etc., etc. It is a powerful fleet and is spread all over the world. You will find US Navy ships everywhere.
Another thing is that the climatic conditions of the Arctic impose restrictions even on the navigation of warships, which, it seems, are such “invincible monsters”. But what can they do against the ice?
Their hulls may be unprotected, but they can also be trapped in this ice. That is why the Healy icebreaker sailed “over the Northern Sea Route” during the summer season.
States can launch some attacks and go down the path of escalation. But if we are talking about year-round, and yet winter in the Arctic is at least 9 months out of 12, then quite obvious risks already arise.
And who, if something happens, will “save” the Americans, so to speak? Apart from the Russians, the only allies in NATO are the Norwegians, whose sector is thousands of kilometers to the west.
Incidentally, Canada and the United States have a Northwest Passage in Arctic waters connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
In theory, it shortens the route from the Pacific Ocean to European ports, bypassing the man-made Panama Canal, which also has wiring problems.
But so far it has not even been calculated how much it would cost to launch this passage. Also, there is no navy, no ports, no rescue infrastructure. But the Internet from Starlink was tested in the Arctic and it works.
But the Internet does not solve any of the main problems that the USSR and modern Russia solved for themselves. This is the presence of a full-fledged icebreaker, including modern nuclear icebreakers, all types of auxiliary ships – tankers, container ships, light carriers, port infrastructure, hydrometeorological stations. A satellite constellation watches over all of this. That is, everything works together.
The Americans have bombers, fighters and submarines. But there is not enough basis to feel confident at any time of the year in the Arctic.
Neither the United States nor Canada, even on their territory, in North America, still cannot solve technological problems. And there is no need to talk about a full-fledged military conflict in this region, in which the United States would gain some incredible advantage.
But provocations can, of course, happen, and they do happen from time to time.
IA Regnum: It turns out that now Russia does not need to respond to the “Arctic demarche” with any concrete military-political steps in the region?
ND: By the way, the Americans have declared claims to the Russian island of Wrangel in the East Siberian Sea, to which the Northern Sea Route passes. They say this piece of sushi actually belongs to the United States.
And without it, Russia will be “pressed” to the coast and it will be difficult for ships to pass through the SMP. But on Wrangel Island, for a second, we have not only a nature reserve, but also a military base. And the States do not go beyond a declaration; they don’t send a fleet there to capture an island lost in the Arctic Ocean.
Everything that can be done is already being done. The applications have been submitted, working committees are being held on them. The boundaries are being defined. Everything points towards Russia’s request being satisfied.
But this is a really serious bureaucratic procedure. On the other hand, Russia is doing everything on its territory to strengthen its Arctic borders. Strengthens the fleet, strengthens the land group.
As for the Arctic Council, it is “half dead”. In it, the current chairman, Norway, timidly floats the idea of Russia being brought back into this organization, from which Western countries actually excluded it in 2022.
It is clear that this body itself was created precisely for the purpose of exerting pressure on Russia in high latitudes. And now without Russia, it all seems kind of silly.
Geopolitics decides everything in the council, because it works according to the “7+1” formula, where “one” is Russia, and “seven” are the de facto countries of the NATO military-political bloc.
So it seems to me that Russia does not need to take any super measures in the Arctic.
You just have to do your job, that is, to return fully to the Far North, to build a military potential on the Arctic coast – in fact, to return to the bases that existed before.
The Americans see this as a military escalation in the region by Russia, even though we simply have our own facilities on our territory to protect our own borders.
We are developing the Northern Sea Route, developing Arctic cities, developing satellite surveillance and environmental monitoring systems. By doing all this together, we will achieve a result that no one can touch.
Translation: SM
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