糖心网页版

Russia appears firmly set on its course of militarization of the Arctic. In a region where economic activities are mostly declining and where environmental challenges are on the rise, Russia appears to be engaged in a one-sided arms race. It is glaringly obvious to observers outside the Kremlin that Russia鈥檚 severe economic recession makes this course unsustainable. Russia may aspire to Arctic greatness, but there is little there to achieve and Russia is unlikely to be able to achieve it.

This is the bottom line from my post at the Brookings blog , August 27.

And there is also a feature article in by Steven Lee Myers, which has this point:

Some have questioned whether Russia, whose economy is sinking under the weight of sanctions and the falling price of oil, can sustain its efforts in the Arctic.

鈥淚t is rather difficult to find rationale for this very pronounced priority in the allocation of increasingly scarce resources,鈥� said Pavel K. Baev of the Peace Research Institute Oslo. He added that Russian claims that it was protecting its economic interests from NATO were 鈥渆ntirely fictitious.鈥�

鈥淭he only challenge to Russian exploitation of the Arctic came from Greenpeace,鈥� he said.