Russia’s Foreign Policy Priorities in the Arctic Region Development at Current Stage

Abstract

The article reviews the features of the processes in the Arctic region in the context of its growing importance in world politics and economics. The Arctic has the richest resources in the world. In the depths of the Arctic there is about a third of all the world’s reserves of natural gas and up to 13% of oil, huge reserves of coal, gold, copper, nickel, tin, platinum, and manganese. The growing dependence of the world economy on energy resources is pushing foreign countries to develop their interests in this region. Russia occupies a unique geopolitical position in the Arctic. The Arctic zone of Russia is singled out as a special object of state policy on the basis of its special national interests in the areas of geopolitics, economics, ecology, science, defense and national security. The development of mutually beneficial international cooperation in the Arctic meets the interests of Russia and its socioeconomic development. International cooperation in the Arctic is greatly influenced by the contradictory trends in modern international relations. As a result of the confrontation unleashed by Western countries against Russia, there was a significant complication of relations within the Arctic community. The Western Arctic states have blocked the development of common approaches to solving the most important issues for the region in the modern Arctic. In these conditions, Russia is building a multi-vector policy in the Arctic, which has brought positive results in attracting friendly states to partner cooperation on the implementation of projects in the Russian Arctic zone.