The area of ​​the Russian Arctic. Russian Arctic (photos, maps, description)

The development of the Arctic latitudes is a priority task for Russia. This region is primarily interesting from the point of view of its commercial use. After all, the Arctic subsoil and the Northern Sea Route can bring considerable dividends to our country in the future.

Inexhaustible bowels

In 2009, the journal Science published an article about the research of potential reserves of mineral resources of the Arctic macro-region. According to published data, the ice of the Arctic hides over 10 billion tons of oil and about 1550 trillion. cubic meters of natural gas. But if oil-bearing deposits are predominantly concentrated off the coast of Alaska, then almost all the reserves of Arctic gas belong to Russia.

According to the US Geological Survey, the Russian Arctic zone as a whole is the richest. In this regard, the Americans call the region of the Kara Sea especially promising, where, according to their assumption, a quarter of all undiscovered reserves of the planet lie.

In addition to hydrocarbons, the Russian Arctic subsoil is generous in rare earth metals, agrochemical ores, there are large reserves of gold, diamonds, tungsten, mercury and optical raw materials. The official representative of Rosgeology, Anton Sergeev, emphasizes that the study of the Arctic region is extremely uneven and in the near future dozens of new fields may be discovered here.

Recently, the British newspaper Daily Star tried to calculate the projected mineral reserves of the Russian Arctic. Experts from Foggy Albion believe that this figure could reach $ 22 trillion. dollars. Russian economists put the figure at $ 30 trillion. At the same time, the cost of explored reserves is estimated at $ 2 trillion.

Northern Sea Route

In the context of the global melting of the Arctic ice, the Russian authorities are betting on the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which can become a tangible item in the budget replenishment. The development of a financial and economic model of transport lines connecting Russian ports with cities in Northern Europe and Southeast Asia is already underway.

Initially, the transportation is supposed to involve Russian cargo, which is now transported by the Trans-Siberian Railway, and then international companies will also be involved in the project. According to experts, with a 75% load of container ships, the annual volume of traffic along the NSR in the near future can reach 380 thousand TEU (1TEU corresponds to a container with dimensions of 6.1 X 2.4 m.)

True, according to the developers of the financial and economic model, it will be possible to talk about profitability not earlier than 2028, when bank financing will return. In this case, the annual profit should be at least 7.5 billion rubles. By 2035, according to experts, the capitalization of the NSR feeder lines from state investments alone will amount to about 55 billion rubles.

But will the NSR be of interest to foreign companies? Obviously yes. In September of this year, the container ship of the Danish company Maersk Line with a capacity of 3.6 thousand TEU for the first time in history changed its traditional route through the Suez Canal and sailed along the Northern Sea Route. The press service for Maersk said this was done to explore the potential for container shipping in northern waters.

It became known that the Danish ship spent 26 days for the whole journey instead of the standard 34. This was predictable, since the northern route is shorter than the southern one by 7 thousand nautical miles. And although Maersk assures that they are not currently considering the NSR as a commercial alternative to the existing logistics schemes, domestic experts have no doubt that the Danes have already appreciated the economic benefits of the new project.

Profit is a costly thing

Before making a profit from the use of the Northern Sea Route and the development of deposits in the Arctic, the state must go to substantial costs. Andrei Zagorsky, head of the department at IMEMO RAS, notes that by 2025 it was planned to invest about 260 billion rubles for specific Arctic projects, but due to budgetary difficulties, this amount will be significantly reduced.

It should also be borne in mind that logistics in the Arctic will cost 3-4 times more than on the continent. The climatic and geographical features of the region make special demands on the infrastructure being built there. So, according to experts, due to the impact of sea storms, port facilities will have to be moved away from the coast, which will significantly increase capital investments.

In addition, in conditions of unstable ice cover and increasing risks of iceberg formation, there is a need to build new nuclear icebreakers, without which year-round navigation is impossible. And such construction is already in full swing.

The lead nuclear icebreaker Arktika has already been launched, the costs of which are estimated at $ 625 million. By 2020, two more serial nuclear-powered ships worth $ 709 million and $ 743 million are to leave the shipyards. The total cost of the icebreaking project will cost the Treasury more than $ 2 billion.

The nuclear icebreaker "Leader" is also at the design stage, which will ensure uninterrupted year-round navigation along the NSR. The estimated costs for it will be about $ 1.2 billion, however, the return is expected to be good. Such an icebreaker can increase the speed of ice-class tankers through the NSR by 5 times.

Yuri Gudoshnikov, a leading researcher at the Arctic Shelf laboratory at the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, is convinced that the Russian Arctic project is “long money”. In his opinion, it will take at least 8 years to launch the field and the prices for hydrocarbons are several times higher than now. But the Ministry of Economic Development urges not to stop, but to speed up the process of developing the Arctic, including by attracting foreign partners.

Recently, Russia has been actively restoring civil and military infrastructure that previously existed in the Arctic and is building new military, transport and logistics facilities in the region. In the Arctic, a full-fledged army grouping of forces and means is being created, which will reliably cover Russia from this direction, as well as ensure the upholding and protection of national interests in this very important region for the country. The two main resources of the Arctic are rich natural resources and transport communications. According to the forecasts of scientists, perhaps already in the middle of the 21st century in the summer period the Arctic Ocean will be completely free of ice, which will only increase its transport accessibility and significance.

The importance of the Arctic is great; according to forecasts, up to a quarter of all potential oil and gas reserves in the world are located on the Arctic shelf. These two types of fossil fuels are still the most sought after on the planet. The Arctic is estimated to contain 90 billion barrels of oil and 47 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. In addition to fossil fuels, there are deposits of gold, diamonds and nickel. Unexplored hydrocarbon reserves in the potentially Russian water area are estimated today by scientists at about 9-10 billion tons of fuel equivalent. Hence the desire of all Arctic countries to expand the zones of their continental shelves.

The Russian sector of the Arctic is located today not only in the Arctic Ocean, but also in the Barents and Okhotsk seas. At present, the Arctic already provides about 11% of the national income of the Russian Federation, as well as 22% of the total volume of all-Russian exports. The region produces 90% of Russian nickel and cobalt, 96% of platinoids, 100% of barite and apatite concentrate, 60% of copper. In addition, the local fishery complex produces about 15% of the total volume of fish products in Russia. Today, it is the Russian Federation that has the largest natural gas reserves on the planet and ranks 8th in the ranking of states in terms of oil reserves. At the same time, Russia is the largest exporter of gas and the second largest exporter of oil in the world. Today our country provides about 30% of all world gas production, and there is more oil under the Russian ice than in the OPEC states combined. That is why protecting Russia's economic interests in the Arctic region is so important.

The foundations of Russia's state policy in the Arctic for the period up to 2020 and beyond were approved back in September 2008 at a meeting of the country's Security Council. The use of Arctic resources is a guarantee of the energy security of the Russian Federation; at the same time, the thesis was also outlined that the Arctic should become a resource base for Russia in the 21st century. For this it is vitally important to ensure reliable protection of national interests on the continental shelf.

Today, work in the Russian Arctic is being carried out at almost all the main points in the ocean - the archipelagos of Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, on the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island, as well as on the mainland - from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka. In total, as part of the ongoing program to restore Russia's military presence in the Arctic, it is planned to rebuild or reconstruct about 20 groups of objects for various purposes, which will form the skeleton of the military infrastructure in this remote region of the country.

A key feature of the military development that is currently underway in the Arctic is the concentration of command and control of all forces in the region in one hand. Since December 1, 2014, the joint strategic command "North" has been operating in the Russian Federation. We can say that in fact "North" is the fifth Russian military district, which unites under its command all land, sea and air forces in the Russian Arctic, as well as adjacent regions. The Joint Strategic Command "North" was created on the basis of the headquarters and infrastructure of the Northern Russian Navy. This immediately sets a different command and control format and approaches to solving problems: for the first time in Russia, the basis of strategic command in this region was the naval headquarters, which must solve the tasks of controlling various troops located on a vast territory.

Arctic Shamrock - Russian military base on Alexandra Land island in Franz Josef Land archipelago

This theater of military operations is characterized precisely by great distances. Therefore, the decisive advantage in possible disputes over the region will be possessed by the party that, in a short time, will be able to provide a powerful military presence in important points of the Arctic. For these purposes, the region must have a developed transport and logistics network of naval bases and military airfields capable of receiving aircraft of all types, up to heavy transport and strategic bombers. That is why a significant part of the RF Armed Forces' exercises in the past 10 years has been devoted to the ability to quickly transfer forces by air and sea. The importance of this aspect cannot be underestimated, since absolutely all plans to recreate the Arctic group of forces in the Arctic and the overwhelming share of Russia's military activity in the region are designed for the widespread use of the transport capabilities of the Air Force and the Navy, without which any effective activity in this region is unthinkable.

First of all, the stake is placed on the reconstruction of the infrastructure, which, if necessary, ensure the transfer of troops by air and sea, and does not require the presence of numerous personnel for protection and daily maintenance. An equally important aspect is the awareness of the leadership of the Arctic group about what is happening. This also determines the direction of today's construction: almost half of the facilities erected in the interests of the Russian armed forces in the Arctic are at radar stations, which, in combination with ships, flying radars and space reconnaissance means, must restore a continuous zone of control over the Russian Arctic.

As Vice Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, Commander of the Russian Northern Fleet, said in early November 2017, the combat capabilities of the forces and assets that are deployed on the Arctic islands will increase, including air defense assets. According to the admiral, a system for monitoring the surface and underwater situation on the routes of the NSR - the Northern Sea Route is being created in the Arctic. Work is underway to create a zone of complete airspace control over the Russian zone of responsibility. Also, according to Nikolai Evmenov, each Arctic island, which has a base of the Northern Fleet, is equipped with all-season airfields that will be able to host aircraft of various types.

New anti-aircraft missile regiment of the air defense of the Northern Fleet (Novaya Zemlya archipelago), photo: Russian Ministry of Defense

The air defense capabilities of the Arctic group of forces next year will be strengthened by a new air defense division. It will appear in the Arctic as early as 2018, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The new connection will be focused on protecting Moscow and the Urals from possible attacks from the North Pole. The air defense regiments deployed here will be focused on detecting and destroying aircraft, cruise missiles and even unmanned aerial vehicles of a potential enemy. Experts note that the new division will become in the future an important component of the country's air defense system, covering the territory from Novaya Zemlya to Chukotka. The Izvestia newspaper, with reference to the Russian Aerospace Forces, reports that regular activities will begin in 2018, since a fundamental decision on the formation of a new air defense division has already been made. It is reported that the formation will include not only newly formed units, but also units already on alert in the Russian Arctic.

At present, the skies of the Arctic Circle are protected by the soldiers of the 1st Air Defense Division. It reliably covers the Kola Peninsula, the Arkhangelsk Region, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the White Sea. This division recently included a regiment stationed in Novaya Zemlya. The 1st Air Defense Division is armed with the most modern types of weapons, including the S-400 Triumph air defense system, the S-300 Favorit and the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and cannon systems.

According to military historian Dmitry Boltenkov, a new air defense division being created in the Arctic will take control of the northern direction (from Novaya Zemlya to Chukotka), providing reliable protection for the Central Economic Region of the Russian Federation (including Moscow), as well as the Urals and its industrial centers. At the same time, the already existing 1st Air Defense Division will concentrate mainly on the defense of the Kola Peninsula and the bases of the Northern Fleet located in this area. According to the expert, there is nothing special to cover with anti-aircraft missile regiments from Novaya Zemlya to Chukotka, but it is necessary to create a continuous radar field. In his opinion, the new air defense division will receive a large number of radar stations, which will be located at the newly created Arctic outposts, possibly even on Kotelny Island and Temp airfield.

Tiksi airfield

It is worth noting that 10 military airfields in the Arctic, the construction program of which was launched 3 years ago, are already ready for combat use, according to the Zvezda TV channel. In such a short time, no one has ever carried out such a volume of work in permafrost conditions and the Far North, the journalists of the TV channel emphasize. Thanks to this, Russia is gradually providing its northern borders with reliable protection from the air, from the sea and from land.

According to the information of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Spetsstroy of Russia is currently completing work on the reconstruction and construction of 10 airfields located in the Arctic zone, including Severomorsk-1, an airfield on Alexandra Land island (Franz Josef Land archipelago), which in the future will be able to receive and heavy aircraft - Il-78, Tiksi (Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)), Rogachevo (Arkhangelsk region), Temp (Kotelny island). Work is also underway to reconstruct the airfields of Severomorsk-3 (Murmansk Oblast), Vorkuta (Komi Republic), Naryan-Mar (Arkhangelsk Oblast), Alykel (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and Anadyr (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug).

The main air force bases are located on Cape Schmidt, Wrangel Island, Kotelny Island, Franz Josef Land archipelago, as well as on the territory of the Murmansk Region. These airfields will be able to provide takeoff and landing of heavy transport aircraft and MiG-31 fighter-interceptors, which are capable of effectively hitting not only enemy aircraft, but also missiles of various classes, including ballistic ones. It is reported that the Arctic airfields will be all-season and will be able to receive different types of Russian Air Force aircraft.

According to an expert in the field of the Air Force, Alexander Drobyshevsky, it is very important for fighter aircraft to develop an airfield network on the ground in order to quickly fly out to intercept the enemy. Even during the Second World War, the practice of "jump airfields" was widely used, when field airfields could be located closer to the front line. In the Russian Arctic, with distances of many thousands, it is also important to be able to fly to intercept the enemy from a closer point. For example, do not waste time flying from Novosibirsk, but ascend into the sky directly from the water area of ​​the Arctic Ocean.

Such jump airfields in the Arctic are also very beneficial for strategic aviation. They were used for these purposes in the USSR; the Americans also had their own jump airfields in the Arctic in the 1970s and 90s. It makes no sense for strategic aviation to be based in the North on a permanent basis, however, if necessary, strategic bombers Tu-95 and Tu-160 can be dispersed over all military airfields, including those suitable for them in the Arctic, which at least increases their combat survivability. At the same time, strategic aviation gets the opportunity to completely calmly make combat missions to the United States with the possibility of returning back to the northern airfields, since the distance allows. Airfields under construction in the Arctic will allow the Air Force not only to completely take control of the Arctic sky within the Russian borders, but also to quickly solve any problems in this part of the continent.

Sources of information:
https://tvzvezda.ru/news/forces/content/201711050946-uwfj.htm
https://svpressa.ru/all/article/29527
https://iz.ru/news/666014
https://lenta.ru/articles/2016/04/20/arctic
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New flight: Murmansk - Arctic - Arkhangelsk. Currently, tour operators and government officials are actively discussing the development of Arctic tourism. In particular, a completely new route is being discussed - tourists arrive in Murmansk, from where they go to the vastness of the Russian Arctic, and end their journey in Arkhangelsk. We believe that this direction of tourism is very promising, and therefore we have carried out a set of work to study the capabilities of the Boeing 737 aircraft in terms of landing on the Arctic ice. The world has a successful experience of such operation of aircraft of this type, on the basis of which we decided on the possibility of such flights. The North is perhaps the most underestimated region by tourists. It is full of majestic beauty, tranquility and grace. At the same time, its effective development has always been associated with aviation, and its modern development has made flights over the Arctic as comfortable and safe as in other parts of our planet. In the near future we will complete all agreements with tour operators, and the new product will be offered to potential consumers. Explore all the beauty of the North with us!

Most people took this as an April Fool's joke. Maybe the group administrators themselves created this message as a banter. Although, someone believed, deciding that flights were planned as far as the North Pole itself. But that's not the point. It turns out that people don't know that there really are flights to the Arctic? After all, what is included in the Arctic region of Russia: The Arctic zone of Russia is a part of the Arctic that is under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The Arctic zone of Russia includes such territories of the subjects of the Russian Federation as Kola, Lovozersk, Pechenga regions, closed administrative-territorial formations Zaozersk, Ostrovnoy, Skalisty, Snezhnogorsk, years. Polyarny and Severomorsk of the Murmansk region, Murmansk; Belomorsk region of the Republic of Karelia, Nenets Autonomous District; Mezensky, Leshukonsky, Onezhsky, Pinezhsky, Primorsky, Solovetsky districts, Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, Arkhangelsk; Vorkuta, Komi Republic; Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District; Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous District; Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory; Allaikhovsky, Abyisky, Bulunsky, Verkhnekolymsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Oleneksky, Ust-Yansky, Gorny uluses of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); Chukotka Autonomous Okrug; Olyutorsky district of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. Okay, Vorkuta, Naryan-Mar ... But, for example, to Amderma, Tiksi, Anadyr - passenger planes fly this way, and this is the same Arctic, without any there. Don't the people know about this? Or does it consider only the North Pole as the Arctic, and the ZFI with Wrangel, Taimyr and Novaya Zemlya? Or maybe it is necessary to directly compose "tourist products" and declare "here is the opportunity for you to fly to the Arctic" so that people would get it?

At the end of last month, the press service of the Security Council of the Russian Federation issued a message in which it focuses on the fact that the "Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic until 2020" posted on the official website of the Security Council of Russia does not imply the militarization of the region. “There is no question of militarizing the Arctic,” the message said. “The emphasis is on creating an actively functioning coast guard system, advancing the development of the border infrastructure of the Arctic zone of Russia, the forces and means of border agencies, as well as maintaining the necessary grouping of general-purpose troops of the Russian Armed Forces.” As follows from the text of the message, "one of the main goals of this work is to increase the efficiency of interaction with the border departments of neighboring states on the fight against terrorism at sea, to suppress smuggling, illegal migration, and the protection of aquatic biological resources."

The ATTENTION that is being paid today in the field of military security and protection of the State Border of the Russian Federation to the Arctic zone is not accidental. It is conditioned by the role that the Arctic is acquiring in world politics. First of all, we are talking about the large reserves of oil and natural gas on the ocean shelf, as well as about the control over new transport routes that will become available with the continuation of the processes of global warming.

Geologists of all Arctic countries agree that the hydrocarbon reserves in the Arctic zone will be enough for the economies of the leading Western states for many years. Thus, according to the results of research by the US Geological Survey, northern latitudes may contain 90 billion barrels of oil (over 12 billion tons). This is enough to meet the needs of the US economy for 12 years. In addition, the Arctic also has huge reserves of natural gas, which scientists estimate at 47.3 trillion. cubic meters. Russian experts believe that these estimates even somewhat underestimate the true hydrocarbon reserves on the Arctic Ocean shelf. The Arctic, in their opinion, in terms of potential resources is five times richer than the Pacific Ocean and 1.5-2 times richer than the Atlantic and Indian.

According to US geologists, among the sectors of the Arctic, the largest total reserves are in the West Siberian basin - 3.6 billion barrels of oil, 18.4 trillion. cubic meters of gas and 20 billion barrels of gas condensate. It is followed by the Arctic shelf of Alaska (29 billion barrels of oil, 6.1 trillion cubic meters of gas and 5 billion barrels of gas condensate) and the eastern part of the Barents Sea (7.4 billion barrels of oil, 8.97 trillion cubic meters of gas and 1 , 4 billion barrels of gas condensate).

Naturally, the question arises as to whom to dispose of these resources. Five Arctic states can claim the subsoil of the Arctic - Denmark, Norway, the USA, Canada and Russia, which has the largest hydrocarbon reserves among the Arctic countries (according to American estimates, the regions that the Russian Federation already owns or claims account for about 60 percent of the total reserves ).

And it is not surprising that Russia was the first to attend to the legal registration of its rights to the seabed. Back in 2001, Moscow submitted an application for its part, which includes the Lomonosov Ridge. But UN officials have demanded more convincing data on the geology of the seabed. In 2007, Russian scientists conducted additional research using deep-sea bathyscaphes and planted a Russian flag made of titanium alloy at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean at the very pole. It was a purely symbolic action, which nevertheless caused an extremely painful reaction in the West.

Meanwhile, according to the director of the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems Anatoly Dmitrievsky, “back in the 1920s, the union of eight Arctic states recognized that the wedge from the edge of the Russian border to the North Pole belongs to our country. According to the modern data of our scientists, this entire territory is indeed a continuation of our continental structures, and therefore the Russian Federation may well claim to develop the oil reserves of this region. "

In May last year, an international conference on Arctic issues was held in Ilulissat (Greenland). It was attended by representatives of the five countries of the Arctic Basin (Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov). The results of the meeting showed that there are no grounds for the hysteria whipped up by some Western media and predictions of the inevitability of military clashes. The conference participants signed a declaration in which the parties expressed their desire to resolve all controversial issues at the negotiating table in strict accordance with international laws.

“The five nations have declared,” said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Möller, “that they will act in strict accordance with the laws. I hope we have once and for all destroyed the myths about the fierce struggle that has unfolded over the North Pole. " Sergei Lavrov adhered to a similar point of view: "We do not share the alarming forecasts regarding the coming collision of interests of the Arctic states, almost the future" battle for the Arctic ", in a warming environment that facilitates access to more expensive natural resources and transport routes."

Indeed, there is no reason for the excitement in the Arctic resources section. Already today, there are international rules that make it possible to determine who has the rights and to which area. On the whole, the outlines of the future section are clear. Last year, researchers from the University of Durham (UK) have already drawn up a map showing areas where the claims of the Arctic countries are undeniable, and those for which lawyers will fight. In addition, the map shows two separate areas called "zones" - they lie outside the water areas, which are claimed by individual states, and will be used in the interests of all countries. The main disputes will unfold on the basis of the conclusions of geologists regarding the structure of the continental shelf and the belonging of the Lomonosov Ridge.

Help

Before World War II, any state with access to the sea had a sovereign right to a strip of water along its coastline. Then it was measured by the range of the nucleus, but over time its width was 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers). In 1982, 119 countries signed the International Convention on the Law of the Sea (entered into force in 1994). The US Congress has not yet ratified it, expressing concerns about the possible "infringement" of sovereignty and national interests. According to the convention, there is a concept of territorial waters. This is a water belt up to 12 nautical miles adjacent to the land area of ​​the state. The outer border of this sea (ocean) belt is the state border. Coastal states also have the right to an exclusive economic zone, it is located outside the territorial waters, and its width should not exceed 200 nautical miles (370 km). In such zones, states have limited sovereignty: they have exclusive rights to fishing, mining, but they are prohibited from hindering the passage of ships of other countries.

The CONVENTION on the Law of the Sea (Article 76) provides for the possibility of extending the exclusive economic zone beyond 200 miles if the state proves that the ocean floor is a natural extension of its land territory. Bearing in mind this article of the convention, today scientists from three countries - Russia, Denmark and Canada - are trying to collect geological evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge - an underwater mountain range stretching 1,800 km from Siberia through the North Pole to Greenland - belongs to their country. Russian geologists claim, referring to the analysis of samples taken from the ocean floor, that the Lomonosov Ridge is connected with the Siberian continental platform (which means that it is a "continuation" of Russia). The Danes, in turn, believe that the ridge is connected with Greenland. Canadians talk about the Lomonosov Ridge as the underwater continental part of North America.

Canadian and Danish scientists launched a joint exploration mission last month to define the boundaries of the North American continental shelf. They were going to camp on Ward Hunt Island, the northernmost point of Canada, from where the expedition had started. From this island, one group of scientists makes flights in a helicopter equipped with sonar. The second group on a specially equipped DC-3 aircraft with a range of about 800 kilometers will carry out gravimetric measurements in the Arctic territory, including at the North Pole (gravimetry is the measurement of the slightest fluctuations in the force of gravity to obtain information about the density of rocks at different points on the surface and their geological properties. - A.D.).

Using this method, Canadian and Danish scientists want to obtain evidence that the North American continental plate, which includes the northern Canadian islands and Greenland (an autonomous province of Denmark), extends far into the center of the Arctic Ocean. This will mean that the continuation of the North American continental platform is the submarine Lomonosov Ridge and the parallel Alpha Ridge, which turns into the Mendeleev Ridge in the east.

It should be noted that in international law there were precedents for the expansion of rights to the continental shelf beyond the boundaries of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has already legalized Australia's claims to 2.5 million square kilometers of the Antarctic shelf, and Ireland received 56 thousand square kilometers of shelf in the Arctic latitudes.

Of course, it is necessary to rely on the fairness of the decision of the UN Commission regarding the dispute over the Arctic territories (Lomonosov Ridge, etc.), taking into account the fact that all decisions in the world community are nevertheless taken with an eye to the ratio of the military and economic potentials of the parties. One could even say that international law is partly the "will of the strong", raised to law. The framework of the world structure of current international relations was determined by the victorious powers in the Second World War with the decisive role of the United States, which then became incredibly strong in world politics. The experience of recent history also teaches that the United States “forgets” about international law and the UN when it fails to get the decisions it needs through the UN Security Council. This was the case during the military operation against Yugoslavia in 1999 and against Iraq in 2003.

THEREFORE, the concern of the Russian Federation about its military capabilities to ensure its state interests in the Arctic zone is quite justified, especially since the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway are striving to pursue a coordinated policy to prevent Russia from accessing the resources of the Arctic shelf. "The fundamentals of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic for the period until 2020", approved on September 18, 2008 by the President of the Russian Federation, provides for "creating a grouping of general-purpose troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and bodies, primarily border agencies, in the Arctic zone RF, capable of ensuring military security in various conditions of the military-political situation. "

The Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is a strategic resource base of the country for solving problems of socio-economic development. Its protection requires an actively functioning coast guard system of the FSB of the Russian Federation. The Arctic strategy of Russia is supposed to develop border infrastructure and technically re-equip border agencies to create a system of integrated control over the surface situation and strengthen state control over fishing activities in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. For border guards, in particular, new ice-class ships with helicopters on board are needed.

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Russia considers its 18 percent of the Arctic territory with a border length equal to 20 thousand kilometers. Its continental shelf may contain about a quarter of all offshore hydrocarbon reserves in the world. Currently, 22 percent of all Russian exports are produced in the Arctic region. The largest oil and gas regions are located here - West Siberian, Timan-Pechora and East Siberian. The extraction of rare and precious metals is developed in the Arctic regions. The region produces about 90 percent of nickel and cobalt, 60 percent of copper, 96 percent of platinoids.

The presence of ships of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic regions, including in the Svalbard region, flights over the water area of ​​the Arctic Ocean by long-range aviation combat aircraft are, under current conditions, instruments of ensuring the national interests of the Russian Federation. The increasing military activity in the Arctic of other circumpolar states also obliges this. The Russian Navy is also actively involved in civilian programs for studying the World Ocean and defining the boundaries of the Russian continental shelf in the Arctic. Under conditions of ice covering a significant part of the Arctic, deep-sea vehicles can work effectively, first of all. For this, it is possible to use both remote-controlled vehicles with a large immersion depth, and submarines.

AMONG Russia's national interests - the use of the Northern Sea Route as a national unified transport communication of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. The Northern Sea Route (sometimes called the Northeast Passage - by analogy with the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic archipelago, which connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean) is able to link together European and Far Eastern shipping routes. Now the length of the route between Europe and Asia (Rotterdam - Tokyo) along the Suez Canal is 21.1 thousand kilometers. The Northwest Passage reduces this route to 15.9 thousand km, the Northern Sea Route - to 14.1 thousand km.

It is estimated that the passage of ships along the Russian Northern Sea Route (NSR) can reduce cargo delivery time by 40 percent compared to traditional routes. There are forecasts according to which by 2015 the total volume of traffic on the NSR could actually increase to 15 million tons per year (now more than 2 million tons of cargo are transported along the Northern Sea Route, but three times more is required for self-sufficiency and development of the route).

With the improvement of conditions for navigation (according to forecasts, by 2020 up to 6 months a year), considerable dangers are also associated. The Northern Sea Route is on the globalist agenda. Transnational corporations and the financial circles behind them are tempted to internationalize this “corridor” along the Arctic coast of Russia under the plausible pretext of modernizing it and ensuring the safety of navigation (there is a reason: old mines, pirates, ice danger, etc.). We must frankly admit that after the collapse of the USSR, little was done to maintain the infrastructure of this sea route in a normal state. Many port facilities are abandoned, navigation and rescue services have degraded, and human resources have been lost. All this is a pretext for a tough conversation with Russia if it weakens amid the outbreak of the global financial crisis. It cannot be ruled out that the West will try to turn the Northern Sea Route, which runs next to the richest deposits of oil and natural gas, into an international sea route, removing it from the jurisdiction of Russia ...

The Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic for the Period up to 2020 formulate the Arctic strategy of Russia in a timely manner, which is to be implemented in the coming years, unfortunately, in the complicated financial and economic conditions. The development of the Arctic is objectively one of the vital priorities of the Russian state.