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Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
Author : A. Abdullin
Attache, Third Department for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Russian Federation
For many years, Canada positioned itself in its Arctic poli-
cies as an inseparable part of the Western world, sharing
its anti-Soviet line. Despite the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the end of the bloc confrontation, and the plum-
meting role of geopolitics in international relations, the
distribution of rights to the control and use of Arctic ter-
ritories and resources remains an uncompleted process.
In analyzing Russian and Canadian Arctic policies, one
should first of all get to the legal sources of Arctic-related
problems. The legal regime of any region depends on the demarcation of its boundaries. Sci-
entifically, the Arctic is the part of the globe north of the Arctic Circle that includes the
North Pole. That vast territory encompasses land and sea areas and the air space over them.
Most of the land in the Arctic is under the sovereignty of some state or other. Sea areas out-
side the sovereignty of Arctic states are governed by international law.
However, there is one problem that frequently comes up in debates - lack of a basis in inter-
national law for dealing with potential future conflicts.
However, numerous as the above-mentioned declarations are, the majority of them state in-
tensions rather than binding rules of conduct. Nor does any the declarations establish a mech-
anism for the enforcement of any such rules.
Ottawa's claim of sovereignty over Arctic waters was primarily based on the international law
principles of historic waters, straight baselines and division of the Arctic into national sectors
that extend to the geographical North Pole. These principles amount to the prerogative of a
littoral state to draw its borders within the limits of its sector.
A state is entitled to a sector if it has an Arctic Ocean coast. The boundaries of a sector are
meridians passing through the two extremities points of the state's Arctic coastline.
Efforts by Russia and Canada to assert their sovereignty over Arctic areas has exerted a con-
siderable doctrinal effect on international law. especially its sections concerning the Arctic,
and the sectoral principle was not the only innovation either.
The defense of national interests in Arctic waters is the core of Russia's maritime policy due
to the importance of free access to the high seas for Russian ships, to the geopolitical position
of Russia's Arctic continental shelf, and to the vital need for the freedom of maneuver for
the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet. The doctrine envisages a special role from the navigation
point of view for the Barents and White seas, other Arctic seas, the North Sea Route, and
the North Atlantic.
The Legal Regime of the Arctic Region: Military-Political Dimen-
sions of the Arctic Strategies of Russia and Canada