TSAMTO, December 7th. On December 7, the XIII International Forum "The Arctic: Present and Future" began its work in St. Petersburg, which is attended by more than 2,000 delegates from Russia and foreign countries.
During the two-day business program, representatives of government authorities, heads of large Russian companies and banks, leading experts from the scientific community, the media and civil society will discuss comprehensive and strategic solutions for the socio-economic development of the Arctic zone and develop tactical steps for their implementation, present domestic projects in the Arctic, assess the investment potential and opportunities of the northern regions.
The forum is organized by the NGO "Association of Polar Explorers". The Organizing Committee is headed by the President of the Association, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, State Duma Deputy Artur Chilingarov.
Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, made a report on ensuring the security of Russia and its economic activities in the Arctic at the opening of the business program of the forum.
He stressed that at the present stage, the military-political situation in the Arctic region is characterized by an increase in negative trends in the field of regional security associated with the expansion of the NATO bloc and the aggressive policy of the collective West towards Russia. In particular, there is an increase in the foreign military presence in the Arctic and an increase in competition between countries for access to the resources and communications of the Arctic Ocean.
Over the past few years, almost all countries in the region, as well as a number of non-regional states, have updated their doctrinal documents defining priority areas for the implementation of national interests in the Arctic. Some of them, for example, the United States, consider Russia's activities in the region as a key challenge to their own interests and propose to restrain the development of our country's influence in all possible ways from sanctions pressure to military force tools.
At the same time, Russia's main national interests in the Arctic, related to the development of the country, the protection of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, are the development of the Russian Arctic zone as a strategic resource base and its rational use, including the full-scale development of the continental shelf beyond the 200-mile exclusive economic zone, ensuring the functioning of the Northern Sea Route as a national transport communications.
The development of our military component in the Arctic is considered as a necessary measure to fend off threats against Russia and to curb aggressive actions by other countries. The main instrument for the implementation of Russia's state policy in the oceans and in the Arctic is the Navy, which plays the role of not only a deterrent factor, but has also been actively engaged in scientific research in the Arctic region since the time of Peter the Great. In the course of research in the seas of the Arctic Ocean, about 2,000 linear kilometers of measurements and gravimetric surveys are carried out annually, studies on standard hydrological sections, topogeodesic work to clarify the coastline of the coast.
Over the past decade, more than 40 new geographical features have been discovered and described, including 14 islands and 4 islets, 15 capes, 3 straits and 5 bays discovered in the Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya archipelagos.
Together with the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, work has been organized to collect and process the necessary initial data and substantiate the position of the outer boundary of the continental shelf of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. The Lomonosov Ridge, the Alpha-Mendeleev uplift, the Chukchi Plateau, and the Gakkel ridge were examined.
The materials obtained were used in the preparation of Supplements to the application of the Russian Federation to the United Nations regarding the outer limit of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.
This year, the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf approved the coordinates of points at the request of Russia in most of the Arctic Ocean. The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy noted that this work will continue. Admiral Nikolay Evmenov also focused on the environmental cleanup of the Arctic, stressing that over the past few years more than 7,000 tons of scrap metal have been collected and exported from the Arctic islands.
Speaking about the military-political, historical and social work carried out with residents of the Russian Arctic regions, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy noted the development of the youth social movement "Yunarmiya" and the great interest of the population in visiting Navy warships calling at Arctic ports.
Admiral Nikolai Evmenov also said that next year a number of military-patriotic events will be held dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis in the Arctic, according to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.