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Turning Points of World Transformation pp 117–138Cite as

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Russia and the Arctic Council: Toward a New Cooperative Agenda?

Abstract

This study aims to examine Russia’s academic and political discourses on the Arctic Council (AC), as well as Moscow’s policies on and within the Council in the aftermath of the Ukrainian crisis, and to discuss Russia’s agenda during its AC presidency in 2021–2023. It is concluded that Russia was actively involved from the very beginning in AC activities. Russia was one of the initiators and active negotiators of all three binding agreements (search and rescue operations, oil spills prevention, science cooperation) concluded under the AC auspices. Moscow supported all major Council endeavors in areas such as sustainable development, energy security, environment protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation, conservation of biodiversity, maritime safety, connectivity of Arctic regions, telecommunications, sustainable fisheries, well-being of local communities (including Indigenous peoples), and so on. Russia favors further Council’s institutionalization and strengthening its role in the regional governance system.

Keywords

  • Russia
  • Arctic Council
  • Regional cooperation
  • Sustainable development

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Acknowledgements

This research was done in the framework of several research projects: (1) the Russian Science Foundation project no. 22-28-01287; (2) the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR)-Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany) joint project no. 21-514-12001, and (3) RFBR-Foundation «Maison des Sciences de L’homme» (France) joint project no. 20-514-22001.

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  1. St. Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

    Alexander Sergunin

  2. State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    Alexander Sergunin

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Correspondence to Alexander Sergunin .

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  1. Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University), Moscow, Russia

    Marina Lebedeva

  2. Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University), Moscow, Russia

    Prof. Vladimir Morozov

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Sergunin, A. (2022). Russia and the Arctic Council: Toward a New Cooperative Agenda?. In: Lebedeva, M., Morozov, V. (eds) Turning Points of World Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1758-5_8

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