Social, economic, legal and political issues of the Russian Arctic

The Arctic zone geopolitically is very important for all Arctic states. And it became such for Russia especially after breakdown of the USSR and reduction of its territory after separation of its southern and western regions because of spatial re-orientation of Russia development and acknowledgement of the role of Arctic in the long-term strategy of economic development. This area gives 95% of gas, 75% of oil, 90% of tin, the greater part of gold and diamond production. Arctic has enormous economic significance for Russia in view of the prospective development of hydrocarbons. Potential geological resources of oil and gas in Arctic and nearby regions are evaluated at over 200 billion tons and 400 trillion cubic meter, respectively. However, development of these resources occurring in extreme natural-climatic conditions will demand scale foreign investments. And we should not forget about the issues of their transportation, storage and processing. In the recent years the Arctic sea region turned into a source of international tension due to rivalry in getting access to its natural resources. This is caused, to some extent, by the fact that the legal regime of Arctic has not been determined in full so far. Installation in late 2007 of the Russian flag on the bottom of the Arctic Sea near the North Pole provoked the beginning of the “Great Northern Game” the stakes in which are extension of a continental shelf for development of natural resources. Already now it can be said with assurance that the 21st century will become the time of struggle for the Arctic expanses and will give rise to ambiguous response from the Arctic countries that is difficult to predict.