Russian Arctic development plan signed

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed his government’s strategic program for Arctic development through to 2020, the Barents Observer reported Feb. 20. The program, which is quite general in nature, includes plans for an integrated Arctic transport system; plans for the development of a scientific and technological sector in the region; and the promotion of international cooperation, with the preservation of the Arctic as a zone of peace, the Barents Observer said.

The program covers most aspects of the management of Russia’s vast Arctic territories, stretching from the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions in the west to the Russian sector of the Chukchi Sea in the east. And under the program the Russian state will support the development of infrastructure for transportation, industry and energy, as well as supporting innovative scientific and technical activities, the Barents Observer said.

In addition to prioritizing Russian state investments in the Arctic, the program prioritizes the regulation of labor relations and social politics in the region, the Barents Observer said.

The first stage of the program, which will run to 2015, will focus on the development of the communications and information infrastructure; the establishment of search and rescue centers for the Northern Sea Route around Russia’s northern coast; the strengthening of the coast guard service; and the development of an integrated system for environmental monitoring in the Arctic, the Barents Observer said.

—Alan Bailey