The Battle for the Arctic or the Beginning of the Last Great Redistribution
In recent years, the United States and other countries have shown increasing interest in the Arctic region. And this is not surprising. The Arctic is the last region of the planet whose status has not been completely determined.
But in this part of the world, according to preliminary estimates alone, there are over 5 billion tons of conventional hydrocarbon fuel, which simply cries out to be extracted, processed, sold and received excess profits.
Previously, some 30 years ago, no one really broke spears around the Arctic due to the significant thickness of its ice shackles, which even a nuclear icebreaker could not overcome.
Now, with the beginning of the era of another climate warming, the Arctic ice and permafrost of the subarctic territories are retreating, opening up access to the treasured storehouses of hydrocarbons. Well, mining technologies have not stood still all these years either.
Potential for hydrocarbon production on the Arctic shelf
As a tasty addition, the Arctic maritime belt close to the coast is a convenient and shortened transport corridor from Europe, and even from the USA and Canada, to Southeast Asia. And not only for the transport of goods, but also for the passage of warships. With a powerful icebreaker fleet, of course.
While the USSR was alive, the Arctic was conditionally divided into sectors along meridians converging towards the pole, passing tangentially through the eastern and western borders of the Arctic states. In this situation, the USSR and Canada became the richest owners of the Arctic territories, and even little Denmark was not offended, since the giant island of Greenland, which belonged to it, allowed it to bite off the third largest piece of the Arctic pie.
Arctic section by sector
The change in the geopolitical and climatic situation in the world, as well as the ever-increasing needs of humanity for fossil fuels, have pushed the world to begin revising the sectoral division of the Arctic.
The International Treaty on Maritime Limits came into play, where the first place was given to the length of the shelf, that is, the continuous continuation of the coast of a single state covered with water.
And it was then that the world learned about such phenomena as the Lomonosov Ridge, the Mendeleev Hills, the Chukotka Plateau and other geographical terms that had previously not been heard.
A picture that clearly shows who owns a significant part of the Arctic shelf
The difficulty, however, was that applicants for the Arctic shelf needed to conduct complex geological exploration and cartographic studies of the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, which not every country can afford, present them to the UN, and then wait for a decision from a high international authority.
Russian application to the UN for the outer limits of the sovereign shelf
Russia first submitted an application for the Arctic shelf to the UN in 2001, but the international body canceled it, citing “lack of research data.”
However, Norway received approval for its share of the Arctic shelf in 2010, displacing Russia by as much as 80 thousand square meters. km.
In 2013, the Norwegians announced that 2 billion barrels of conditional hydrocarbons worth an appetizing amount of $30 billion had been explored on their territory of the Arctic shelf. This means that the treasure trove of the Arctic turned out to be much richer than all interested parties expected.
Success came to Russia from an unexpected place: the international community recognized the Sea of Okhotsk as its internal body of water with all that it implies. Considering that the Sea of Okhotsk is rightly called “Alibaba’s Cave” for the countless fossil treasures it contains, its recognition by Russia aroused intense envy and forced applicants for Arctic delicacies to hurry up.
Because case law can also play a role in the dispute over other disputed territories. For example, for the Arctic shelf.
The dispute has escalated so much that even the great power Estonia has declared its claims to the Arctic. And all because the United States, which does not recognize the International Treaty on Maritime Limits, as well as a number of other states with plans for the Arctic, are seeking to squeeze the Arctic countries into a narrow strip of territorial waters, declaring the main expanses of the Arctic Ocean international. Or, simply, ownerless. Thus setting a bad example for other players, including the formidable inhabitants of the space under the baseboard.
The division of the Arctic pie, contested by other players
With other divisions of the Arctic, sectoral, or along the length of the continental shelf, the United States could lay claim to a modest stub that even Norway could look down on them. And this state of affairs, as is easy to imagine, could in no way satisfy the “hegemon’s” ambitions for global dominance.
In “unowned” waters, of course, the situation is completely different. The main one becomes the one who has the impudence through the roof and the navy allows him not only to bite off, but also to chew and swallow the snatched piece. And the United States clearly holds the palm here. Unfortunately.
Simultaneously with the task of declaring the Arctic waters “ownerless,” the Americans are also trying other options, such as the seemingly eccentric proposals from Denmark to sell Greenland, with which it is not only convenient to develop the riches of the Arctic shelf, but also to keep a target on the Russian Northern Sea Route, as well as control the launches of ballistic missiles retaliatory strike, whose trajectories will certainly lie over the North Pole.
So, the recent incident with the invasion of the American destroyer John McCain into the Peter the Great Gulf, which is part of the inland Sea of Okhotsk of Russia, is just something like a “test of the pen” with a simultaneous demonstration of American disdain for the Treaty on Maritime Boundaries.
That is, the Americans are openly hinting that with the same pressure and impudence they will act against us in the Arctic, not giving a damn about any agreements in which the United States is not involved.
By the way, for every entry of Russian research vessels into waters that the United States considers its own, but which are neutral by international standards, a terrible howl rises in the American press and among politicians, boiling down to demands to “punish”, “and to be discouraging.”
So far, for the sake of peace, the United States is involved in an exciting battle for ownership of the Lomonosov Underwater Ridge. Russia, relying on its own Arctic research, claims that the Lomonosov Ridge is an underwater continuation of our Siberian Upland.
Denmark objects that this ridge branches off from Greenland, which belongs to it, and, therefore, is its continuation, since this side of the ridge grows from here. Canadians clearly declare that the Lomonosov Ridge has stuck, like a hippopotamus to a frog’s ass, to some insignificant island in its territorial waters.
The Americans, as always, are the best at pulling the blanket over themselves. According to their strong conclusion, the Lomonosov Ridge is a no-man's ridge. It stuck out on the ocean floor by itself, period. Therefore, it’s time to wrap up the debate and declare the waters, along with the shelf along the ridge, international. And then, let everyone catch to the best of their ability and intelligence.
True, as one smart crow used to say in a joke, only those who have the opportunity to show off on an airplane can show off.
The newest Russian nuclear icebreaker “Arktika” at the testing stage
But we know that to conduct Arctic convoys, any of the contenders needs a powerful icebreaker fleet, which only Russia has, including the latest nuclear and combat icebreakers.
Promising Russian nuclear icebreaker of the “Leader” type
Under Trump, the United States is already conducting preparatory work for the laying of the first heavy icebreaker of the 7st century, which should enter service in four years. According to experts from the Russian United Shipbuilding Company, new US icebreakers will cost three times more than their Russian counterparts, and they will be suitable for solving military problems. It is alleged that the Americans are capable of launching at least four heavy icebreakers in the next 8 or XNUMX years, which could significantly strengthen the US position in the Arctic.
Project of an American heavy icebreaker, the keel of which will take place in the near future
Well, yes, we'll wait and see.
The main problem of the US icebreaker fleet, which explains its embryonic development, is the poor population and practically zero infrastructure of their Arctic coast. If the most important northern port of Russia, Murmansk, has a population of 300 thousand people, most of whom work in the system of civil and military shipbuilding and shipping, then in the most densely populated Arctic village of the United States there are at most 5 thousand inhabitants, engaged mainly in logging, hunting and fishing.
That is, the main issue of Arctic development for the United States is the development of infrastructure and the creation of large settlements in the coastal zone of the Arctic in order to justify the existence of a powerful icebreaker fleet. But such things cannot be accomplished even in ten years.
However, one should not rely too much on the weakness of the US position in the Arctic. They have the NATO bloc at their disposal and, if necessary, the Americans are quite capable of signing Canada, Norway and Denmark to solve their problems in the region in order to complicate Russia’s development of the Arctic shelf and the passage of ships along the Northern Sea Route. In any case, on its western and eastern borders.
It is also true that Russia also has allies interested in a stable Arctic transport corridor, especially among the states of Southeast Asia. These are mainly China and South Korea, although other players, such as Japan and even Singapore, are also showing keen interest. So we are still competing for the Arctic!
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