Introduction: Can Cooperative Arctic Policies Survive the Current Crisis in Russian-Western Relations?

Abstract

The Arctic has often been described as a zone of peace and cooperation.1 This description is not without merit: During recent “cold spells” in Russian-Western relations—as in the aftermath of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war—the Arctic states have managed to bracket off their Arctic policy from general East-West relations. But what of the current crisis between Russia and the West following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and subsequent involvement in Eastern Ukraine? Since 2014, relations between Russia and the West have been plummeting; never since the breakup of the Soviet Union has the situation between Moscow and Washington and other Western capitals been more strained. Indeed, many observers have described this as approx- imating a new Cold War, or at least a Cool War.2 The longer this situation persists, the more likely are potential spillovers to the Arctic. We must ask: Can co-operative Russian and Western Arctic policies survive the present crisis? (...)