Russia steps up efforts to develop, secure Arctic zone
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Russia's President issues an order to devise a coordination action plan for the development of the area by September 1.
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Gazprom’s Bovanenkovo gas field on Russia's Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic in 2019 (AFP)
The Arctic zone is of crucial strategic importance for Russia with regard to security and resources, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"The Arctic zone is important, and it has been said many times in relation to various situations, it is strategically important for the country. There are questions of defense and a resource base, and so on; I will not list everything," he said during a meeting discussing the development of Arctic towns and settlements where travel is restricted, also known as closed cities.
Russia's leader acknowledged that the Arctic region is facing a number of issues that need to be resolved, as it also affects the country's military posture.
"Let me remind you that last year at a meeting dedicated to the Arctic, we decided to develop an action plan for the development of housing, energy, and social infrastructure of closed cities and settlements in the Arctic zone where our military units are deployed. However, the tasks are still being solved, to put it mildly, slowly. And today I would like to talk with you, colleagues, on this matter, to talk about the reasons for the delay on the timeline."
A coordinated action plan to implement in the area, which also hosts military bases, must be devised by September 1, he stressed, noting that this plan must include the development, housing, energy, and public infrastructure.
Putin issued an order to establish long-term plans, to be approved next year and extend until 2035, to develop Arctic towns, adding that implementations will begin by 2025.
Addressing the energy infrastructure in the region, he said the country will conclude the Arctic LNG 2 project on time, stressing that such energy projects benefit Russia's economy and allow the country to reclaim its gas-supply shares in the global market.
Putin announced last year that Russia had returned to the Arctic for economic purposes, as well as to safeguard its sustainable defense capabilities and ensure the prevention of emergency situations.
"The development of the Northern Sea Route will take place and we have already launched some major economic projects there, including in the energy sector," he affirmed then.
The Arctic is an ecologically very "vulnerable" region and required special attention to ensure its protection as it is considered "to a large extent related to the Arctic," the Russian leader added.
Moscow and China pledged last year to intensify practical cooperation in the Arctic, as part of their deepening strategic partnership.
Read more: NATO: Sino-Russian arctic partnership poses challenge to alliance
Beijing announced that it is expanding its presence in the area and declared itself a "near-Arctic state," revealing plans to create a "Polar Silk Road" connecting it with Europe through the Arctic.
Commenting on the Chinese plans, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic poses a strategic challenge to the values ​and interests of the alliance.
Stoltenberg stated that Finland's and Sweden's accession to the coalition would significantly strengthen NATO's position in the Far North.
In May 2022, an American military report revealed that the US plans to invest billions in Arctic defense, including modernizing its Thule Air Base in Greenland.
