Yuriy Kobzar21:44, 24.12.23

The Arctic is becoming increasingly “hot” from a geopolitical point of view.

The USA has declared a zone of its control over large areas of the sea shelf in the Arctic , which is claimed by Russia, among others. Moscow promised to “react harshly”.

As reported by the US State Department , we are talking about the water areas of the Arctic and the Bering Sea with a total area of ​​about 1 million km2, which is almost twice as large as, for example, the area of ​​Ukraine. The formal basis for expanding the zone of control is international rules that allow states to extend the legal regime of the exclusive economic zone to the continental shelf adjacent to it.

According to  Bloomberg , due to control over the shelf, the US wants to gain access to the minerals available there, including oil and gas deposits. Although the State Department claims that their decision “affects geography, not resources.

Volodymyr Jabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on International Affairs , said that Russia also claims this part of the shelf and is ready to defend its interests. 

“Russia should react quite harshly. Because all countries that are related to the Arctic region should have equal rights. We (the USA) already ceded to them (the USA) at one time (in 1990), thanks to Shevarnadze’s thoughtless decision, a large shelf. Appetite comes when eating. It doesn’t matter what they claim. Russia has exactly the same rights as Americans, if not more,” he said.

The fight for the Arctic

As UNIAN wrote, NATO worries Chinese shipping in the Russian Northern Sea Route. The danger is that commercial and scientific interests could become harbingers of China’s military presence in the Arctic. The alliance is concerned about China’s intentions, given its increasingly close ties with Russia, including energy and transport cooperation that has led to a sharp increase in Russian oil shipments to China via Arctic waters.

Experts warn that the next confrontation between the Russian Federation and the West will take place in the resource-rich Arctic. For a long time, this region of the world was on the sidelines of geopolitics, but climate change is making the Arctic increasingly interesting from an economic point of view.

(C)UNIAN 2023