In this latest Strategic Update, Col Robert A. McVey Jr addresses why Russia has dramatically changed its Arctic strategy since 2007, committing significant military and fiscal resources to the region. McVey additionally describes the diplomatic, information, legal, and military tools of national power that Russia is craftily employing to pursue, promote, and protect its growing strategic economic interests in the Arctic, finding that the possibility of conflict between great powers remains ever present, regardless of the potential for cooperation or competition. Given that Russia’s Arctic strategy is primarily driven by economic interests, this paper makes five key recommendations for U.S. policymakers and military leaders, focusing on security cooperation programmes with NATO allies and the Arctic states.

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Russian Strategic Interest in Arctic Heats Up as Ice Melts

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Russian Strategic Interest in Arctic Heats Up as Ice Melts

About the author

Colonel (COL) Robert A. McVey, Jr. is a U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer (FAO) specialising in Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union. He is currently serving in the Headquarters, U.S. Army Central. COL McVey was most recently assigned as the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Fellow at Indiana University-Bloomington where this research was conducted. His previous U.S. Army FAO assignments include tours in Ukraine, Washington D.C., Latvia, and Lithuania. COL McVey holds a M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Indiana University-Bloomington and a M.S. in Logistics Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. He contributed to the LSE IDEAS Russia-Ukraine Dialogues.