Russia is a dominant actor in the Arctic accounting for more than 50 percent of the Arctic Ocean’s coastline and nearly 50 percent of the total Arctic population.
Russia and the Arctic region
The USA’s recent speculation over the future of Greenland[1] has drawn attention to the wider strategic importance of the Arctic and the potential for future conflict in the region. Whilst the Arctic region offers significant challenges due to the prevailing harsh climatic conditions, it also offers a wealth of natural resources as well as strategic advantages linked to economic, transportation, and military considerations. Russia is one of eight Arctic countries and is a dominant actor accounting for more than 50% of the Arctic Ocean’s coastline and nearly 50% of the total Arctic population.
Six of the Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia and USA) have territory extending into the Arctic Ocean through their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs)[2], granting these countries ‘sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living…’ in these zones for a distance of up to 200 nautical miles.[3] This leaves a significant area of the Arctic Ocean designated as international waters and beyond the jurisdiction of any nation state. A number of countries (Canada, Denmark and Russia) have made additional territorial claims in recent years. In addition, the region is characterised by a range of more focussed regional disputes over borders and territory.
Russia has been proactive in furthering territorial claims in the Arctic region beyond its EEZ. As early as 2007, a state-sponsored expedition placed a Russian flag on the sea-bed under the North Pole, which though a publicity stunt was understood as an expression of intent amongst the wider international community.[4]
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74x4m71pmjo
[2] https://arcticportal.org/education/quick-facts/government-and-policies/3457-exclusive-economic-zones-of-the-arctic-eez (accessed April 2025)
[3] https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part5.htm (accessed April 2025)
[4] E.g. see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6927395.stm (accessed April 2025)
The Soviet Union and the Arctic
Russia’s current engagement with the Arctic has its roots in the actions of the Soviet Union of which Russia was the largest successor state. During the course of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union placed emphasis on expanding its presence in the Arctic region and this was underpinned by a combination of scientific and economic activities. In the 1930s, strident efforts were made to establish the Northern Sea Route which ran along the Soviet Union’s Arctic coastline aiming to connect western parts of the country with the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait and simultaneously encouraging economic growth across its northern territories. This initiative took advantage of a period of natural warming characterising the Arctic during the early part of the twentieth century, which helped to reduce sea ice, opening up areas of ocean for navigation. Soviet policy resulted in a marked expansion of the population residing within its Arctic territory over the period 1930s-80s (there were approximately 2.7 million living in urban regions by 1989)[1]. Another feature of Soviet activity in the Arctic was its use of nuclear-powered ships (including a fleet of icebreakers) and submarines. Furthermore, a large number of nuclear tests was carried out on its Arctic territory during the Cold War period. The environmental legacy of this activity and associated decommissioning processes remain live issues, while there are plans to increase nuclear powered shipping in future.[2]
[1] Josephson, P.R. 2014, The Conquest of the Russian Arctic, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, p. 242.
[2] https://bellona.org/news/arctic/2025-01-nuclear-risks-in-the-russian-arctic-during-the-war-in-ukraine
How do the Arctic countries interact?
The Arctic region is the subject of a range of international bodies, research initiatives and annual conferences. The Arctic Council includes the eight Arctic states and is considered ‘the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, Arctic Indigenous Peoples and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic’. Additional forums include The Barents Euro-Arctic Council and The Northern Forum amongst others. The Arctic region has also been the focus of coordinated scientific activity since the late nineteenth century and the First International Polar Year (1882-1883). This has since been followed by three more large-scale international scientific events in 1932-1933, 1957-58 (named the International Geophysical Year due to an expanded scientific remit), and most recently in 2007-8. Russia (as the Soviet Union in 1932-33 and 1957-58) has been a key participant in all four initiatives.
Current Russian policy in the Arctic
Russia continues to place an emphasis on opening up the Arctic region for its natural resources. In particular, there have been efforts to develop hydrocarbon resources and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) port facilities in parts of Western Siberia such as the Yamal Peninsula.
The Russian Arctic also possesses significant reserves of nickel, gold, palladium and other commercially valuable metals. In view of this, there is no surprise that the Arctic has emerged as a key element of Russia’s national strategy. In order to assist the effective coordination of the many actors working in the Arctic region, Russia promulgated several state initiatives during the 2000s and established a State Commission for Arctic Development in 2015. Recent legal documents include a 2020 Presidential decree ‘Concerning a strategy for development of Russia’s Arctic zone and the ensuring of national security through to 2035’ (updating a 2013 strategy) which acknowledges, amongst other things, the possible socio-economic benefits and risks of climate change for the region as well as the growing threat of conflict. This strategy was joined a year later by a government decree establishing a programme for the ‘Socio-economic development of Russia’s Arctic zone’, which is focussed on accelerating economic growth within the region.
The Arctic’s future
Climate change will continue to drive the reduction in the extent of Arctic Sea ice and at the same time facilitate access to the region’s natural resources. At the same time, the dominance of economic and security considerations threatens to push aside urgent considerations related to the Arctic’s ecology and environment, the livelihood of the region’s Indigenous peoples, and the character of the region’s broader socio-economic development.