The Northern Sea Route: Solving Political and Legal Problems

The possible responses of Russia to modern challenges to the legislative regulation of navigation along the Northern Sea Route are analyzed against the background of climate change in the Arctic. The authors focus on identifying the best ways to harmonize the status of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and the statutory regime of navigation along the Northern Sea Route with the rules of international law, including the framework of a scenario assuming that the waters of the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free for a significant part of the year. The international legal validity of Russia’s policy aimed at preserving the status of its Arctic zone and the Northern Sea Route is revealed; controversial issues in the positions of states, primarily the United States, regarding the status of this route are examined. Possible interpretations of Article 234 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (on ice-covered areas) are considered as applied to the Northern Sea Route. Substantively analyzing the disagreements between Russia and the United States, the authors show that their essence is in an attempt by the United States to revise the regime of the Vilkitskii Strait and some other Arctic straits of Russia as its internal waters that have been developed and maintained for centuries. Ways of ensuring the interests of the Russian Federation in its Arctic zone based on cooperation primarily with the countries of the Arctic Council are shown.