Russian Strategic Interest in Arctic Heats Up

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This many-paged article is a view of current thinking in the United States

 

Russian Strategic Interest in Arctic Heats Up as Ice Melts

https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/updates/2022-SU-RussiaArctic-FINAL.pdf

 

Colonel (COL) Robert A. McVey, Jr  Sept 2022

 

Conclusion In 2007, Russia dramatically changed its national Arctic strategy and began committing significant military and fiscal resources to successfully pursue, promote, and protect its national objectives in the region. Having determined that the Arctic region will be critical for its economic survival over the next few decades, Russia is aggressively pursuing strategic economic objectives in three important sectors: energy resources and minerals, transportation, and food security. Russia’s energy industry is the largest and most important single driver of the country’s aggressive Arctic strategy because Russia’s economic security is inextricably linked to its energy industry and its failure to diversify its economy have forced Russia to double down on the extraction of oil and natural gas resources. Since 2007, Russia has expertly wielded its diplomatic, information, and legal tools of national power. Russia has also aggressively increased its Arctic military presence, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in accordance with the country’s coordinated Arctic strategy to pursue, promote, and protect its growing strategic economic interests in the region. The possibility of conflict between great powers remains ever present regardless of the potential for cooperation or Russian Strategic Interest in Arctic Heats Up as Ice Melts | Colonel (COL) Robert A. McVey, Jr 25 competition. The probability of a miscalculation escalating into unintentional armed conflict is greater due to increased Russian economic and military activity in the Arctic region. Russian economic interests have highlighted the Arctic region’s dramatically increased strategic importance. U.S. policymakers risk damaging U.S.- Russian relations, failing to achieve U.S. national strategic objectives, and also making the world more unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous by failing to explore and contemplate Russia’s national strategic interests. To lessen concerns about the unknown and thereby make the world safer, U.S. policymakers and our allies must attempt to understand the objectives towards which Russia is driving its Arctic strategy.