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Tag: Moscow

  • Arctic conference to be held in Moscow

    Arctic conference to be held in Moscow

    International conference "The Arctic: Region of Cooperation and Development"

    On December 2-3, 2013 the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) RAS and in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Center for Strategic and International Studies will hold in Moscow an International Conference on “The Arctic: Region of Development and Cooperation”.

    The event is endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

    The Conference is held in line with RIAC long-term projectRoadmap for International Cooperation in the Arctic, aimed at promoting the development strategy of the Russian Arctic and preserving its unique environment on the basis of international cooperation.

    At the beginning of December this year RIAC will release anannual report “International Cooperation in the Arctic”and a three-volume anthology “The Arctic region: Problems of International Cooperation,” covering the essential materials on the Arctic research in recent years and systematizing the legal framework of the international cooperation and activities of Russia and other Arctic nations in the region. These editions will be presented at the Conference.

    The main objective of the Conference is to establish a permanent forum for representatives of the expert community, ministries and departments for systematizing the experience of international cooperation in the Arctic in order to develop proposals for effective development of the region and responsible use of its resources.

    Click here for more information about the conference. 

  • Putin speaks at the Arctic Forum

    Putin speaks at the Arctic Forum

    Putin during his speech.

    President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, held a speech at the third international Arctic Forum, in Salekhard. The first such forum was held in Moscow in September 2010, the second – in Arkhangelsk in 2011.

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    The main theme of the current forum is environmental security. The forum participants will discuss possible scenarios of climate change in the Arctic, the current level of pollution, the impact of its industrial development on indigenous peoples and a number of other issues.

    Taking part in the third international Arctic forum will also be President of Finland Sauli Niinist, President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and many others.

    “Today more than ever, the Arctic needs particular care and attention. Russia, where the Far North regions make up almost a third of the country’s territory, is conscious of its responsibility for preserving the Arctic’s environmental stability,” Putin said in his speech.

    “Many of you here today know that we have adopted the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy. We are using it as the base for drafting our State Programme for the Russian Arctic’s Social and Economic Development until 2020.”

    President Putin also underlined Russis intentions to clean up the Arctic, and said that the federal budget allocated 45 million US dollars to the cleanup.

    “I also note that we plan to extend considerably the network of nature conservation areas in the Arctic region. These specially protected natural areas currently make up around 6% of the Russian Arctic, nearly 322,000 square kilometres. Our plan is to increase this area several-fold.”

    Putin also stressed that coperation is high on the Russian agenda: “I want to reaffirm today Russia’s commitment to this declaration’s principles, and also to our desire to do everything possible to make the Arctic in practice a territory of partnership, cooperation and dialogue between countries and between the public at the broadest level.”

    Read Presidents Putin speech here.

  • Illegal trade on increase in Russia

    Illegal trade on increase in Russia

    Polar bear with cub

    Illegal trade of polar bears products is on the increase in Russia.

    Last month, WWF Russia presented study showing that illegal trade in polar bear products had been booming. Skins are for sale at 600,000 rubbles, mostly in Moscow, but internet ads also come from Murmansk.

    The environmental group in Moscow has monitored the internet over the last 20 months searching for ads selling or buying polar bear skins. 47 skins for sale have been discovered, some ads offering more than 3 skins, according to the study.

    Soviet Union outlawed polar bear hunting in 1957. Most of the skins where put up for illegal sale in Moscow, but WWF has also found skins for sale in Murmansk, St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Kirov, Izhevsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Irkutsk.

    The study says the average price for a polar bear skin is 600,000 rubbles (€14,940), sharply up compared with black-market prices ten years ago.

    There are between 5,000 and 7,000 polar bears in Russia. Those in the Barents Region are partly migrating between the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and the Russian islands of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya.

    Source

    Barents Observer

  • Moscow chosen over NSR-cities

    Moscow chosen over NSR-cities

    The Northern Sea Route.

    Russia has decided to host the administration for the Northern Sea Route in its capital, Moscow. The new headquarters will open late January this year.

    The Deputy Transport Minister of Russia, Viktor Olersky, said to RIA Novosti that a draft of the resolution has been made and it is being coordinated by federal agencies. The BarentsObserver states that both Murmansk and Arkhangelsk lost the fight for hosting the administration, after looking for having it in its respective cities for years.

    The reason given for choosing Moscow, instead of either of the two harbor cities in the route is “in order not to offend anyone”. Olersky also said that a branch could be opened later in Arkhangelsk.

    He said that although concerns may rise that Moscow is not at the sea route that it was a good location as the Emergency Situations Ministry was in Moscow, as well as other big companies and organizations who work and employ in the areas.

    The state owned enterprise will have a budget of 35 million Rubles. Only for days prior to the decision by Olersky, the Governor of Arkhangelsk Igor Orlov said that Arkhangelsk was ready to open a NSR office that would handle all practical tasks connected to traffic on the route – applications to use the route, coordination with the Agency on Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, use of Arctic aviation and so on.

    In 2012 total cargo transported through the Northern Sea Route was 1.261.545 tons, an increase of over 50 percent from 2011. The total number of ships also increased from 34 in 2011 to 46 in 2012, compared to only 4 in 2010.

    Sources

    RIA Novosti

    Barents Observer