The Soviet Union and Jurisdictional Disputes in Northern Waters

Abstract

Since 1977 negotiations over a continental shelf boundary have become further complicated by the establishment by both Norway and the Soviet Union of 200-mile economic zones. This development meant that future negotiations would be concerned not just with a continental shelf boundary but also with an economic zone boundary. Norway takes the view that the most appropriate practical method for effecting a delimitation is the median line. The Soviet Union takes the view that there are factors which indicate that a median line is not the appropriate method of delimitation. It was pointed out earlier that the Soviet Union has apparently argued that the continental shelf boundary should be a sector line. The actual line of longitude to which the Soviet Union refers was that used in a Soviet decree of 1926 to define the western limit of its claim to land territory in the Arctic.