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Author : R. Kolodkin
Head of the Russian delegation at the talks with Norway on maritime delimitation, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2010, the Treaty between the
Kingdom of Norway and the Russian Federation concern-
ing Maritime Delimitation and Cooperation in the Barents
Sea and the Arctic Ocean was signed in Murmansk.
THE MURMANSK TREATY completes the years-long
process of the maritime delimitation between the neigh-
boring states that started back in 1957 with the maritime
border agreement between the USSR and Norway signed
in Varangerfjord.
SUBJECT TO DELIMITATION was a vast maritime area between mainland Russia and Norway
in the south, the Russian archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land in the east, and
Norway's Spitsbergen archipelago in the west. This area comprises almost the entire Barents Sea
and the adjacent part of the Arctic Ocean. A significant part of the area is covered with ice. How-
ever, there is intensive shipping and fishing activity in its southern part.
OBVIOUSLY, if parties wish to achieve a just delimitation, it should be just in the view of both
of them. This result can only be attained on the basis of compromise - mutual departure from
original claims. As a general rule, the more realistic and the better substantiated a claim, the less it
will have to be adjusted in the course of negotiations.
The basic principles of the fishing regime that, in their opinion, should be recorded in the treaty
were as follows.
First, the delimitation should not impair the sides' possibilities for fishing in the former disputed
area. Second, the 1975 and 1976 fishing agreements were to remain in force for 15 years after the
delimitation with the option of subsequent prolongation. Third, the mechanism of interaction be-
tween the two countries' fishing regulators - the joint commission, which had proved its efficiency
- was to be preserved. Fourth, our fishermen were to receive an opportunity, within two years of
the future treaty's entry into force, to continue applying the Russian regulations in respect of some
technical aspects of fishing in that part of the former disputed area that would remain under Nor-
way's jurisdiction.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, the most important thing here is that this is the just settlement of a long-
running dispute, a long-standing issue in Russian-Norwegian relations. Even with regard to the
disputed area alone, not the entire delimitation area, the maritime area in question is enormous all
the same (four times as large as, for example, the territory of the Netherlands).
The importance of the Treaty goes beyond the framework of bilateral ties. By signing it, Russia
and Norway have set an example of how it is possible - in the spirit of compromise, cooperation
and mutual benefit, and in accordance with international law - to find just solutions to disputes
over the status of vast Arctic maritime areas and therefore regional resources that are often re-
garded as a potential source of conflict.
http://interaffairs.ru
The Russian-Norwegian Treaty: Delimitation for Cooperation