The Kara Sea as an object of international legal policy of Russia

Abstract

INRTODUCTION. Of all the Arctic seas going into the coast of Siberia, the Kara Sea is conspicuous because of delineation by islands from the rest of the Arctic Ocean. These islands are undisputedly under the sovereignty of Russia from the time immemorial. Such peculiarities have predetermined the character of the power of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and the contemporary Russia relevant to the Cara Sea. In 2022 seven western States-Members of the Arctic Council introduced their disagreements with Russia relating to the non-Arctic issue, thus breaking the traditional “immunity” of the Arctic from political and legal conflicts in other regions.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The author researched the legal documents of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation along with the research publications relating to the status of the Kara Sea. The methodological basis of the research methods as well as specific methods of jurisprudence are used.RESEARCH RESULTS. In the period of the Russian Empire the international law advisor to the Head of the Russian State asserted only the possibility to qualify the Kara Sea as internal waters of Russia. However, in the period of the Soviet Union the soviet legal scholars unanimously qualified the Kara Sea as part of the state territory of the USSR. However, at the official level no relevant legal act was adopted. In 1985 the Decree of the Government of the USSR was adopted according to which for the first time in the history the previous doctrinal position was dismissed and most of the Kara Sea was qualified as the waters beyond the state’s maritime territory.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. In the author’s opinion, the 1985 the Decree of the Government of the USSR have consequences in the context of general international law, that is it is impossible for the modern Russia to return back to the soviet legal position as formulated by the soviet legal teachings. However, the 2022 breaking by the seven western Arctic states the traditional Arctic “immunity” from the non-Arctic conflicts (as noted above) has made legitimate the responsive measures of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. In this context Russia is entitled to respond by strengthening its regulatory measures in the Kara Sea. The relevant research views regarding such measures are suggested in this article.