[…] After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the breakdown of the Arctic Council, Norway, with diplomat Morten Høglund in front, has worked continuously to stake out a future for the council. A split with Russia at a political level was inevitable. But many, especially on climate-related issues, have been concerned with continuing the cooperation. The problem is that without Russian researchers, as half of the Arctic is in Russia, major parts of the climate research falls apart.
Today, cooperation with Russian institutions is on the list of sanctions towards Russia. Without some form of loosening of these sanctions, Arctic climate research is rather left in the mud. […]
In an interview with High North News yesterday, Monday, Russia’s Arctic ambassador Nikolay Korchunov, said that Russia still considers the Arctic Council an important forum for cooperation. Nor does he question the process that is taking place in May.
In its recent strategy, Russia wishes to diminish the significance of the Arctic Council and rather shift the center of gravity of Arctic issues towards China and India. However, that does not necessarily mean that Russia is putting a spanner in the works of Norwegian chairship. Läs artikel