(tass.ru) - Representatives of relevant departments and scientific organizations involved in the study and conservation of the Arctic summed up the results of scientific activities under the Russian chairmanship of the Arctic Council at the IV Ministerial meeting in Smolny. During the meeting, organized by the St. Petersburg Committee for the Arctic Affairs, on Friday, the transfer of authority in the direction and coordination of scientific work within the council from Russia to Norway took place, a TASS correspondent reports.
"The emblem of the chairmanship is a team of sled dogs. It expresses the common efforts to achieve the set goals. I propose to use the sculpture depicting the team as a challenge sign of the country's chairmanship. We will pass this symbol on to our partners from Norway, and we will find a way to transfer this symbol physically in the near future time,” said the moderator of the meeting Anton Vasiliev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Iceland in the period from 2014 to 2020.
Scientific cooperation within the Arctic Council is carried out in the Arctic science ministerial format (ASM). This format has existed since 2016 and functions regularly in the Arctic Council. As part of Russia's chairmanship in it, the Russian Federation also took over the chairmanship in this scientific association. Initially, France acted as a partner of Russia, but after February 2022 and the freezing of cooperation with the Russian Federation by a number of countries, it refused to work together.
The result of Russia's chairmanship in the scientific association of the Arctic Council was a report that highlighted the most important scientific studies from all countries of the region and their results. Russian researchers began compiling this report with their French partners, in 2022-2023 the Russian side completed it independently, Rector of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University Valery Mikheev said at the meeting. According to him, many details for compiling the report in the absence of official contacts with other Arctic countries had to be sought in open scientific sources.
"Scientific contacts were interrupted by other Arctic states. At the working level, the level of personal contacts, interaction is obviously maintained, but it is not of a formal nature, this is not an exchange of data, but rather an exchange of views," the Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry explained to TASS, Nikolay Korchunov, senior official in the Arctic Council.
The transfer of powers after the expiration of the Russian chairmanship of the Arctic Council itself in May 2023 will take place at a virtual meeting. Last June, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the USA, Finland and Sweden decided to resume the work of the Arctic Council without Russian participation.
Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental organization of the Arctic states. Its members are Denmark (together with Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, USA, Finland and Sweden. In 2021, when the 25th anniversary of the association was celebrated, the two-year chairmanship in it passed from Iceland to the Russian Federation. After the start of full-scale hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, Western countries froze contacts with Moscow through the mechanisms of international Arctic cooperation.
"The emblem of the chairmanship is a team of sled dogs. It expresses the common efforts to achieve the set goals. I propose to use the sculpture depicting the team as a challenge sign of the country's chairmanship. We will pass this symbol on to our partners from Norway, and we will find a way to transfer this symbol physically in the near future time,” said the moderator of the meeting Anton Vasiliev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Iceland in the period from 2014 to 2020.
Scientific cooperation within the Arctic Council is carried out in the Arctic science ministerial format (ASM). This format has existed since 2016 and functions regularly in the Arctic Council. As part of Russia's chairmanship in it, the Russian Federation also took over the chairmanship in this scientific association. Initially, France acted as a partner of Russia, but after February 2022 and the freezing of cooperation with the Russian Federation by a number of countries, it refused to work together.
The result of Russia's chairmanship in the scientific association of the Arctic Council was a report that highlighted the most important scientific studies from all countries of the region and their results. Russian researchers began compiling this report with their French partners, in 2022-2023 the Russian side completed it independently, Rector of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University Valery Mikheev said at the meeting. According to him, many details for compiling the report in the absence of official contacts with other Arctic countries had to be sought in open scientific sources.
"Scientific contacts were interrupted by other Arctic states. At the working level, the level of personal contacts, interaction is obviously maintained, but it is not of a formal nature, this is not an exchange of data, but rather an exchange of views," the Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry explained to TASS, Nikolay Korchunov, senior official in the Arctic Council.
The transfer of powers after the expiration of the Russian chairmanship of the Arctic Council itself in May 2023 will take place at a virtual meeting. Last June, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the USA, Finland and Sweden decided to resume the work of the Arctic Council without Russian participation.
Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental organization of the Arctic states. Its members are Denmark (together with Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, USA, Finland and Sweden. In 2021, when the 25th anniversary of the association was celebrated, the two-year chairmanship in it passed from Iceland to the Russian Federation. After the start of full-scale hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, Western countries froze contacts with Moscow through the mechanisms of international Arctic cooperation.
