Moscow maneuvers in the game for the Arctic: an « unexplored treasure » between gas and drinking water

By our Moscow correspondent « Russia is a building whose facade is addressed to the glacial ocean. » So spoke the famous admiral Stepan Makarovwhich at the end of the nineteenth century proposed the use of navigy ships to enhance the northern maritime route. Of course, he could not know that his words would become bright LEDs that indicate the way to tourists visiting the ice cave, In the Zaryadye park, a stone’s throw from the Kremlin.

The installation will be removed next Sunday. The attraction of this country for the Arctic and the North Extreme remains. They are Russian half of the territory and waters delimited by the Polar Circle, And the extension of the coastal line along the glacial ocean is almost forty thousand kilometers. It is like having a treasure at home, in the form of vital space for the majority of humanity, considered climate change, The largest « tank » of energy resources, of drinking water And because of the heating of the Arctic, four times faster than the rest of the planet, too The future junction of world transportthe shortest via Marittima between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Why then be surprised by the Kremlin’s activism, which almost comes as implicit response To the claims made by Donald Trump? Perhaps because Russia continues to escape us, and its logic remains an insurmountable mystery for us Westerners.

We need Greenland for world peacesays the American president. While he was war, Meanwhile, Russia has carried out with work. In general silence, on February 6, 2023 the United Nations Commission on the limits of the continental platform welcomed All the Russian claims on a vast portion of the Arctic Glaiawhich also includes the geographical north pole. In the silence of the US, which do not adhere to the agreement, with a minimum majority decided by China and the Brics countries, have been accepted Russia’s claims on the Marine seabed of the Arctic, 1.7 million square kilometers, which are based on the premise that this area is a natural extension of its continental platform. It is not a binding decision, but constitutes an important precedent on a request that the Kremlin has been carrying out since 2001. As a Danese representative said after the decision: « Merry Christmas! ».

The Arctic supremacy of Russia is not only of a geographical nature. The US lacks military infrastructures in the desolate lands. Norad, the joint command with Canada created in 1958, is a weakened body, with an obsolete surveillance network. In the last two years, Russia and China have instead brought new long -range missiles capable of overcoming the defensive structures of competitors. « The Arctic Region is an area of ​​potential conflict for the future, » said Admiral Aleksandr Moiseev, commander in chief of the Russian Navy.

What is the stakes, said it the other day In Murmansk the secretary of the Council of State Aleksey Diumin. « In a context of reducing resources and tightening of the struggle for their control », in the artis according to the estimates of experts, There are over 1.5 thousand cubic meters of gas and 83 billion barrels of oil not exploredmore than 13% of all world reserves.

The era that followed the end of the Cold War, when the two superpowers chose the Arctic as a common collaboration ground, is now a distant memory. Everyone for themselves. And the Kremlin moved in advance, choosing China as an ally for safety and for new commercial routes which are opening up due to the dissolution of the ice. Since 2010, the International Arctic Forum has been held every year in Russia. What has just ended in Murmansk had as its title « the North is to live ». In his speech, Putin spoke of economic and industrial colonization of the area, « Not only with Arctic States but with those who, like us shares responsibility for a stable future of the planet ». In short, China.

There was also Kirill Dmitriev, head of the direct investment fund, back from the negotiations on Ukraine with the USA, who has not excluded collaborations with the new American friend, but made it clear in a clear way who is up to giving the cards. «Russia controls 50% of all the resources of the Arctic Region in the world. And, of course, all countries will deal with the position of Russia ». The battle for the North, hopefully only cheap, has just begun. Putin and his collaborators spoke in a room entitled to the great scientist Vladimir Vernadsky, founder of Biogenochimica. At the beginning of the last century he said: « This huge intact territory, the Russian North, procured by the blood and suffering of our history, it must be protected as a universal heritage which makes the advent of a single world organization of humanity more accessible and more implemeable « . It was long ago.