Geopolitical significance of the Arctic Zone for Russia

Abstract

The Arctic is of high significance for the economy, politics, ecology and technological development not only of the countries that have Arctic territories, but of the whole world as well. As long as the Arctic remained one of the most inaccessible places on the planet, scientific theories about its geopolitical and economic significance were perceived as pure abstraction. But the climate warming, melting of the Arctic ice and the development of technologies has led to the fact that all these natural resources have become accessible. Those states that develop the Arctic resources most effectively will get greater economic and hence political power. This actualizes the presented paper. The object of the research is the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the research is to reveal various aspects of the geopolitical significance of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation. In order to achieve this, the following interrelated problems have been solved: scientific criteria for the identification of the Arctic Zone have been presented; basic characteristics of the Arctic have been determined; economic, political and technological aspects of the Arctic geopolitical importance for the Russia have been identified and analyzed; some innovative features of management of the Arctic Zone have been determined.