Russia and U.S. Explore Arctic Collaboration Amid Shifting Geopolitical Landscape

U.S. and Russian officials are exploring the possibility of collaborating on Arctic trade routes and resource exploration following high-level discussions last week, as reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Kirill Dmitriyev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, mentioned on February 18 that the two nations discussed «joint projects in the Arctic» during their talks in Saudi Arabia, marking their first meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The significance of Arctic issues was highlighted by the involvement of Vladimir Proskuryakov, a Russian Foreign Ministry representative focused on Arctic matters, in the recent discussions.

According to one source cited by Bloomberg, Washington sees Arctic collaboration as a potential strategy to create a rift between Moscow and Beijing. Nonetheless, the source pointed out that this initiative is unlikely to bear fruit due to the robust partnership between Russia and China, which has been characterized as “no-limits.”

The report from Bloomberg did not detail which specific Arctic initiatives were addressed during the talks in Saudi Arabia.

Both Russia and the United States are among eight nations with Arctic interests, while China has positioned itself as a “near-Arctic state” since 2018. The U.S. Department of Defense has previously expressed concerns about the increasing alignment between Russia and China in this region.

In 2012, ExxonMobil, the American oil giant, formed a partnership with Russia’s state-owned Rosneft, investing $500 million in oil exploration projects in the Arctic and Black Sea. However, ExxonMobil withdrew from the venture in 2018 due to Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of Western companies have exited the Russian market.