Арктическая политика России. Учебное пособие

The ‘Russian Arctic’ has a broader geopolitical scope since it implies the high-latitude zone of the North, of which the AZRF is a part. At the same time, the concepts of ‘the Russian Arctic’ and ‘the AZRF’ are identical with regard to the expanse of the dry land they reference. However,oftentheyareusedindifferentcontexts:inaninternalRussiancontext it’s the AZRF, while for the outside world it’s ‘the Russian Arctic’, which includes the Arctic Ocean’s Northern Seas, in agreement with the UNCLOS (1982), as well as the Northern Sea Route, which falls under Russian jurisdiction according to international law.

The Far North (Krainiy Sever) is sometimes used to define the northernmost territories of Russia in a specific Russian legislation to indicate a welfare policy and provide some benefits, such as monthly allowance to the salary, additional leave, to (economically active) population of the regions with severe environment conditions. This definition is not geographic but social; introduced yet in the Soviet period, it was used to refer to the benefits granted to people working in a harsh climate. The introduction of  ‘the Far North’ into the Soviet laws was conditioned by the social, economic and ethno-regional policies with their specific objectives set in the process of industrialization and development of the NSR.Theterritoryofthenorthisdividedintotwozones:‘theFarNorth regions’ and ‘equal-status localities’. The term ‘Zapolyarye’ applies to everything located north of the Arctic Circle.

Theoretical Debate on the Arctic1

The world theoretical discourse on the Arctic can be reduced to the fighting between, on the one hand, normativists and pragmatics and, on the other, alarmists (security-oriented thinkers) and nonalarmists (proponents of the desecuritized approach).

The first debate is manifested by the clash between the valueand interest-based approaches to the Arctic.

1Seeindetails:Sergunin,A.A.,KonyshevV.N.,LagutinaM.L.Conceptualizing the Arctic // Pak E. V., Krivtsov A. I., Zagrebelnaya N. S. (eds.). The Handbook of the Arctic. Palgrave Macmillan. – Singapore, 2022. URL: https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-16-9250-5_1-1.

11

Value-based approach is mostly shared by the International Relations (IR) paradigms of neo-liberalism and globalism. According to this approach, the Arctic (particularly, its natural resources and sea routes) is a common humankind’s heritage/asset that should be exploited together with other countries and in a very careful way. The neoliberals and globalists believe that subregional institutions such as the AC, Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC), Nordic institutions are parts of the global and regional governance systems and should be designed and function accordingly. For them, the AC and BEAC should avoid discussion of security issues; rather, environmental issues and the ‘human dimension’ (indigenous people and other residents of the Arctic regions) should be their main priorities.

Interest-based approach is developed by the neorealist IR paradigm. According to the neo-realist perspective, regional players’ principal interest is to turn the Arctic into the main ‘strategic resource base’ and other policy considerations should be subordinated to this over-arching goal. Both Arctic states’ domestic policies and international strategies shouldbeorientedtotheprotectionofitsnationalinterestsintheregion. Againstthisbackground,itisespeciallyimportanttosecureArcticcountries’ economic interests in the region.

Another division line emerged from the debate on Arctic security. In this sphere, two approaches can be distinguished as well:

Securitization approach. This approach is developed by the alarm- ist-typeanalysts(mainlyfromthegeopoliticalandneorealistIRschools) who tend to see every Arctic problem from the national security point of view – be it ecological problems and fisheries or territorial disputes and control over the sea routes. The radical version of this school views the Arctic as a manifestation of the perennial geoeconomic and geopolitical rivalry between the Arctic states, especially between Russia and the West.

De-securitized (technocratic/instrumentalist) approach. The proponents of this approach believe that most of the Arctic problems can be solved beyond the security context, in a ‘normal way’. In case of a conflict, this school suggests using negotiations to realize positions of the oppositepartyandfindacompromisethatcouldsatisfybothcontending

12

sides. To this group of analysts, the work on the technical/instrumentalist level has a consolatory effect on the conflicting parties and creates an interdependency mechanism that additionally contributes to the prob- lem-solving process.

Suggestions for further readings

Lagutina, M. L. Russia’sArcticPolicyintheTwenty-FirstCentury.National and International Dimensions. Lanham: The Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, 2019.

Sergunin, A. Introduction: Quo Vadis? The Arctic between nationalism and globalism // The Polar Journal. – 2021. – № 11(1). – P. 1–10. URL: https:// doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2021.1936895.

Sergunin,A.A.,KonyshevV.N.,LagutinaM.L.ConceptualizingtheArctic// Pak E. V., Krivtsov A. I., Zagrebelnaya N. S. (eds.). The Handbook of the Arc- tic.PalgraveMacmillan.–Singapore,2022.URL:https://doi.org/10.1007/978- 981-16-9250-5_1-1.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982. URL: http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm.

Young, S. B. To the Arctic. An Introduction to the Far Northern World. – New York : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1988.

Questions for discussion

1.What does ‘the Arctic as a multifaceted region’ mean?

2.What are the major drivers of the global Arctic dynamics?

3.What are concrete ways to address the current changes in the global Arctic?

4.What is ‘the Arctic’ in global epoch?

5.What role do non-Arctic countries play in Arctic policy?

6.What are the interests of non-Arctic countries in the Arctic?

7.How do neoliberals and globalists see the role of regional institutions in the Arctic?

8.Why do neo-realists believe that it is especially important to secure Arctic countries’ economic interests in the region?

Topic 2. Russia in the Arctic: historical background

Abstract. History of the Russia’s development of the Arctic before 1991. Several stages in the Russian exploration of the Arctic: 11–17th centuries – the ‘initial period’; 17th – early 20th centuries – the ‘imperial period’;

13

throughout the 20th century – ‘the Soviet period’; late 20th – ‘the post-So- viet stage’. The crisis of the 1990s and its consequences. Arctic travels and research expeditions.

Historically, Russia has always been closely connected with the Arctic, although the Arctic’s division into national sectors began only about 100 years ago. Meanwhile, up until the 18th century Russia was not experiencing any threats from beyond its northern borders: icebound, the northern seas were a natural barrier hard to cross. Still, Russian statesmen and scientists were always mindful of the northern territories and their potential.

The ethnic groups residing in what is now the Russian Federation have been familiar with the Arctic region since times immemorial and today the history of Russia’s development of the Northern regions has centuries. Several stages can be identified in the Russian exploration of the Arctic:

1. 11–17th centuries – the ‘initial period’ – initial disorganized and even spontaneous colonization of the Arctic.

One of the chronicles of 1032 mentions that a mayor of Novgorod called Uleb journeyed from the Northern Dvina to the ‘Iron Gates’ that is either to the Kara Gate Strait or the Yugorsky Strait (which separates Yuzhny Island, a part of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, and Vaygach Island from the continent and from each other). Later, in the 12–13th centuries the Pomors discovered Vaygach Island and Novaya Zemlya, and in the late 15th century – the archipelago Svalbard and Bear Island intheBarentsSea.Sometimearoundthe13thcenturypeasantsstartedto settle along the White Sea coast. 1499 saw the establishment of the town of Pustozersk in the lower reaches of the Pechora River – the first Russian town to be built inside the Arctic Circle, it existed until 1780 (20 km off the present Naryan-Mar). In 1533, on what is presently Murmansk, by the Barents Sea, the Pechenga Monastery was built, to become an important Russian Arctic outpost, along with the Solovetsky Monastery on an island in the White Sea, built in 1429. Up until the 20th century the main Russian port in European Russia’s north was Arkhangelsk (a port city by the White Sea, founded in 1584). Over time Arkhangelsk became an important link in the chain of international commerce – the

14

sector that accounted for up to 60 % of the state’s revenues. That stage was mostly characterized by purely economic activities of Russians arriving in the northern lands.

2.17th – early 20th centuries – the ‘imperial period’ –thebeginningof systemicexplorationoftheRussianArctic,aswellasitsdevelopmentand human resettlement thereto.

TheprocessofdevelopmentoftheArcticRegionassuchwasinmany ways driven by an interest in the Northern Sea Route/Northeast Passage (NSR/NP) – the shortest route presently connecting Russia’s European part with the Far East. Moreover, at that time the Russian state itself began to show an interest in the Russian Empire’s northern regions.

The end of 16th century saw lots of expeditions to the Taz River (presently Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, RF), which followed two routes – around the Yamal Peninsula and across the peninsula, its rivers and portages. Afterward, in the 17–18th centuries, groups of scientists and explorers were traveling eastward along the Arctic Ocean coast – their objective was both to explore the new lands and search for new routes to Asia.

The list of Russian expeditions in 17th – early 20th centuries:

1610:RussianKondratiyKurochkinexploresthemouthoftheYenisei River and the adjoining coast.

1633–1634: I. Rebrov explores the mouth of the Lena River. 1633–1635: Ilya Perfilyev explores the Lena and Yana Rivers and in-

tervening coast.

1638:I.RebrovexplorescoastbetweentheLenaandIndigirkaRivers. 1641: Dimitry Zyryan and Mikhail Stadukhin explore the mouth of

the Indigirka River and adjoining coast.

1646: I. Ignatyev explores the mouth of the Kolyma River and adjoining coast.

1648:Ya.SemyonovexploresthemouthofKotuyRiverandadjoining coast.

1648: Semyon Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseyevich Popov explore from the Kolyma River through the Bering Strait.

1649:MikhailStadukhinexploresthecoastfromtheKolymaRiverto the Bering Strait.

15

1686–1687: Ivan Tolstoukhov expedition explores the mouth of the Yenisey River and the coast of the Taymyr Peninsula.

1712: Merkury Vagin and Yakov Permyakov explore the vicinity of the mouth of the Yana River and adjoining coasts, both were murdered by mutineering expedition members.

1725–1730: Vitus Bering leads the First Kamchatka expedition. 1733–1743:SecondKamchatkaexpeditionexploresthenorthcoastof

Russia and discovers Alaska.

1760–1763: S. F. Loshkin explores Novaya Zemlya.

1765–1766: Vasily Chichagov explores the Kola Peninsula coast and Spitzbergen.

1768–1769: F. F. Rozmyslov explores Novaya Zemlya and the Matochkin Strait.

1773: Ivan Lyakhov discovered Kotelny Island.

1785–1794: Russian expedition led by Joseph Billings explores Eastern Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, and the west coast of Alaska.

1800: Yakov Sannikov charts Stolbovoy Island.

1809–1811: Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom explore the New Siberian Islands.

1820–1824: Ferdinand von Wrangel and Fyodor Matyushkin explore the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea areas.

1821–1824: Fyodor Litke explores the eastern Barents Sea and the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, including Matochkin Strait.

1832–1835:Pyotr Pakhtusovexplores the southernhalfoftheeastern coast of Novaya Zemlya.

1898–1902: The Swedish–Russian Arc-of-Meridian Expedition measures a meridian arc in Svalbard throughout five summer seasons and one winter season.

1900–1903: Russian polar expedition of 1900–1902 on-board Zarya is led by Eduard Toll.

1910–1915: Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition in Taymyr and Vaygach.

1912–1914: Brusilov Expedition, ill-fated expedition led by Captain Georgy Brusilov.

1912–1914: Russian expedition aboard Foka, led by Georgy Sedov.

16

The important milestone was the publication of Mikhailo Lomonosov’s essay called ‘A Brief Description of Various Voyages in the Northern Seas and Demonstration of the Feasibility of a Passage via the Siberian Ocean to East India’, the book in which the scholar analyzed the results of the Kamchatka Expedition and showed possible sea routes across the Arctic Ocean. In 1765 this essay was used as a basis for the planning of Vasily Chichagov’s Arctic Expedition, tasked to find a sea passage from Svalbard to Kamchatka along the polar route. Although the expedition proved to be a failure, its findings significantly enriched the Russian troveofknowledge.Meanwhile,M.Lomonosovwasoneofthefirstwho pointed out the great importance and prospects of studying and developing of the Russian North for the state.

The utilization of the Northern Sea Route was begun in the second half of the 19th century.

The process of human migration to the Russian Arctic gained momentum in the late 19th century. In the 1870s Arkhangelsk governors permanently resettled the Nenets people to the islands of Novaya Zemlya. In 1894, on the initiative of the minister of finance Sergei Witte, the Russian government elaborated a plan to develop the Far North. The plan envisaged the construction of a port on the Kola Peninsula and a railroad to connect it with European Russia. According to this plan, in 1898theconstructionofthemilitaryportAlexandrovsky(nowPolyarny) was started in the Ekaterininskaya Harbor of Kola Bay, and 1916 saw the beginning of the construction of Romanov-upon-Murman (now Murmansk).Toencouragemigrationtothisterritory,thesettlerswereoffered bonuses: all residents of the area were exempt from taxation, and men were exempt from conscription.

On April 25, 1919, Admiral Kolchak’s government established a Committee for the Northern Sea Route – the first state agency responsible for Arctic transport.

In early 20th century intensive economic development Russian Arctic lands embarked on. It included development of extractive industry, fishing, transportation links etc. But the most important fact is that the Russian Empire had declared the Arctic ‘wedge’ to be its legitimate possessions in 1916: from the North Pole towards the extreme point of the

17

Western border (with Norway) and towards the Chukchi Peninsula (the extreme point of the Eastern border). The Russian Empire’s ministry of foreign affairs on September 20, 1916 sent to all foreign powers its note of protest, which became the first Russian document to stake Russia’s claimtotheRussianArcticzone. ThenitwasmarkedonallSovietmaps. Thus, the Empire took over an enormous sector in the Arctic Ocean. Later on, in 1926 this principle was confirmed by the USSR: from now on the Soviet section of the Arctic would have its western and eastern borders come together at the North Pole. This became one of the key achievements of Soviet diplomacy in the 1920s because it added to the SovietterritorytheArcticOcean,withitssurfacestretchingoveronemillion square kilometers. Hence, nobody disputed borders of Soviet polar territories.Meanwhile,Russia–and,likewise,atalatertime,theUSSR, which thereby recognized its continuity with the Russian Empire as regards the Arctic – did not put in question the principle of free navigation in the Arctic waters. In other words, Russia did not place any restrictions on the freedom of international navigation outside its territorial waters along the Arctic coast. As for the division of the Arctic into national sectors,however,thisinitiativewaspioneerednotbyRussia,butbyCanada, whose government yet in 1909 claimed control over the territories to the north from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

3. Throughout the 20th century – ‘the Soviet period’ – when Russia claimed control over the strategically important site of the Arctic Ocean, making the northern territories a site of energetic military activity and economic production, setting in place a system of scientific exploration of the region, and developing an efficient Arctic strategy.

Between 1918 and 1991, the Soviet Arctic was a primarily closed nationalized space, due to its military-strategic location. But at the same time in the USSR period the Arctic economic was actively developed (extensive resource extraction, road building, urban building, settlement of northern territories etc.) and in late1980-s population in the Arctic increased by many times owing to migration from other country’s regions. Evaluating the ‘Soviet period’ of Arctic exploration in general, one can argue that the USSR succeeded in developing and efficiently realizing a

18

fairly potent strategy of Arctic exploration. Moreover, presently Russia’s Arctic policy-making entirely relies on the Soviet achievements.

On March 4, 1920, the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council (Supreme Soviet of the National Economy) of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic approved a directive on the Sevekspeditsia (Northern Academic and Commercial Expedition) – a body tasked with coordinating all research projects in the Arctic (since 1925 it was called theInstituteforStudyoftheNorth,andsince1958–theResearchInsti- tute for the Arctic and the Antarctic).

On April 15, 1926, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved a decree declaring that the land between 32°04′35′′E and 168°49′30′′W, expanding from the Soviet coast to the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean, was a Soviet territory.

1928 saw the establishment of the Arctic Commission responsible for organizing and carrying out academic research in the Soviet section of the Arctic.

December 1928 saw the establishment of the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Russian: GUSMP), which would prioritize the objectiveofpromotingshippingtrafficontheNSRforyearstocome.The Directorate was a unique example of a single cross-sector agency to manage the Arctic, for which no other Arctic nation had a counterpart. This new agency had a wide range of responsibilities: from ensuring smoothly running navigation in the Arctic to timely delivery of supplies to northeast regions of the USSR and to prospecting and extraction of natural resources, setting in place a stable fishing industry and even supporting the indigenous communities of the North and conducting academic research. Moreover, the GUSMP had its own fleet and Polar air services.

In 1933 the Soviets formed the Northern Flotilla (later – the Northern Fleet) and set about developing air transport. The USSR was the first nation to systematically use aviation for developing the Arctic and delivering supplies to it. Thus, in 1937 the Soviet aviators Valery Chkalov and Mikhail Gromov pioneered the polar air route via the North Pole. In the same year the USSR launched the first drifting research station

19

calledSeverny Polyus (NorthPole)–suchstationswouldbeinoperation up until 1991 (Russia resumed the use thereof in 2003 and launched the station Severny Polyus-37 in September 2009). It is worth mentioning that Russia (USSR) is the first and only country to use the drifting ice stations, thanks to which Russian scientists have the opportunity to explore the Arctic all year round.

In the 1930–1940s the Soviets started its program of encouraging migration to the Arctic region and commercial exploitation of the area. That period saw the construction of the Arctic ports Igarka, Dikson, Pevek, Tiksi and the towns such as Naryan-Mar, Norilsk, Vorkuta and others. Another important development at that period was the discovery, for the first time, of large deposits of oil and gas in the Arctic region of eastern Siberia: 1931 saw the discovery of the first minable oil deposit in Russian North – the Chibyuskoe oil field, although oil extraction was started there only in 1939.

In the 1950–1960s large oil and gas deposits were discovered in the northern section of eastern Siberia, giving impetus to the development of transport and industry in the region. The 1960s were marked by the discovery of the region’s largest oil and gas fields: Urengoiskoe (1966), Yamburgskoe(1969),Bovanenkovskoe(1971)andothers;inthe1980soil and gas deposits were discovered on the Arctic shelf as well: the Shtokman (1988) and Prirazlomnoe (1989) fields and others.

DuringWorldWarIItheArcticwascriticalfortheSovietvictoryover Germany because the Northern Sea Route was used to deliver the lendlease cargoes from the USA.

As for the Cold War period, both the USSR and the USA regarded theArcticasa zoneof possibledirectclash betweenthem,keepingsecret manyprojects,theysponsoredinthenorthernregion.However,asiswell known, in 1962 a Soviet nuclear submarine called ‘Leninsky Komsomol’ emerged from the water near the North Pole, and in 1977 the Soviet nuclear icebreaker called The Arctic became the world’s first surface vessel to reach the North Pole.

The overall objective of the state-run organizations in the Soviet period was to build up in the Arctic a powerful academic, industrial and

20