The Politics of Russian Arctic shipping: evolving security and geopolitical factors

Abstract

This study examines how soft security, including economic and environmental issues, inform the broader security and geopolitical factors of Moscow’s policy on the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The authors begin by discussing how Russia’s hard and soft security perceptions of Arctic shipping evolved in the post-Cold War era, including perceptional changes in the context of the Ukrainian crisis and ongoing tensions between Russia and the West. The article tries to structure Russia’s security/geopolitical discourse on the NSR by identifying its key elements, including the role of the NSR in ensuring the country’s economic security and its cohesiveness and connectivity of its different and distant from each other territories; NATO military activities in the NSR’s adjacent regions; the US and some other states’ vision of the Arctic sea lanes as ‘global commons’ where the freedom of navigation principle should be applicable; the need to control vast maritime spaces and coastline to prevent potential illegal activities ranging from poaching and smuggling to illegal migration and attacks against critical industrial and military objects; and the need to develop search and rescue (SAR) capabilities and be prepared to prevent and/or fight oil spills. The paper also discusses to what extent security and geopolitical concerns affect Russia’s present-day debate and decision-making on the NSR, including its economic/commercial, diplomatic and legal aspects. The authors lastly examine what kind of practical measures are taken by the Russian authorities to ensure hard and soft security of Arctic shipping: reopening of old Soviet and constructing new Russian military bases along the NSR most of which have dual-use (SAR) capabilities; development of a border guard station network in the region; modernisation of the Coast Guard fleet; creation of SAR and emergency operations centres along the Arctic Ocean coastline; and the improvement of communication and navigation systems to increase maritime safety.