Europeans fear that Russia and the US will divide the Arctic without them –
Bloomberg writes that the US and Russia are seriously considering cooperation on Arctic trade routes and resource exploration in the region.
“U.S. and Russian officials have identified the Arctic as a potential area for economic cooperation, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s part of a broader warming of relations that President Donald Trump is seeking with Moscow,” the publication says.
U.S. and Russian negotiators discussed natural resource exploration and trade routes in their discussions, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
One of the agency's sources also noted that the United States also views cooperation in the exploration of energy resources as one of its strategic goals.
"Both sides have recently signaled that they are open to business partnerships and cooperation, causing concern among European and NATO allies who have sought to isolate Moscow since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
One of the interlocutors noted that Washington sees Arctic cooperation as a possible way to sow discord between Moscow and Beijing, but expressed doubts about the success of this strategy given how much closer relations between Russia and China have become in recent years, especially after their announcement of a “partnership without limits,” the article notes.
Politico confirms this information, reporting that Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's state-owned direct investment fund, said after US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia this month that cooperation on Arctic energy projects was among the "specific areas of cooperation" discussed.
Late last year, the Pentagon released a new Arctic strategy highlighting the risks of China and Russia moving closer together in the region. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has sought to expand its military presence and surveillance in the Arctic in response to the growing rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing.
China has increasingly focused on the Arctic in recent years, declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018 and developing interests in the region in fisheries, energy and transportation.
Potential new trade routes play a key role in China's strategy to create a "Polar Silk Road" connecting East Asia, Western Europe and North America, Bloomberg reports.
Meanwhile, active direct contacts between Moscow and Washington continue. As the US State Department stated, this Thursday in Istanbul, US and Russian representatives discussed specific steps in the sphere of normalizing the work of diplomatic missions. After contacts in Turkey, the parties agreed to meet again in the near future. The talks in Istanbul lasted more than six hours.
Europeans fear that Russia and the US will divide the Arctic without them –