The Barents Sea is a secluded part of the Arctic Ocean divided between Norway and Russia. The politics in the Barents Sea is of paramount importance for the 2 countries relationship, showing both maritime conflict and maritime cooperation. Moreover, the natural resources in the region are necessary for the states' economic development. As global warming is melting the icecaps, new shipping routes are opening up. Other states have established new interests in the area. Moreover, natural resources and Petroleum exploration in the Arctic remains of high interest for both states.
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is located on the northern Norwegian coastline within Russian and Norwegian territorial waters. It has a surface area of 1,400,000 square kilometres in the Arctic Ocean. With its average depth of 230 meters, it contains valuable natural resources for both states, like hydrocarbons and fish stocks. Its unique positioning places the ocean between the Russian Federation and the smaller yet NATO-centred state of Norway. The Barents Sea is managed through treaties consistent with international law. These treaties are of paramount importance for the management of the area. However, legal compliance is often found to be lacking in consistency.
Historical background
Norway and Russia have never been at war with one another. Moreover, the 200-kilometre territorial border has remained intact since the signing of the bilateral border treaty of 1824. Furthermore, the Russian liberation of northern Norway in October 1944 – accompanied by a voluntarily withdrawal from Norway, led to a stable relationship in the years after the end of WWII. After WWII, Russia and Norway have been indifferent political and cultural systems, with contrasting alliances and ultimately, maritime security. Norway's defence was interconnected to the United States, and NATO's throughout the cold war, merging its military capabilities with its fellow member-states. NATO's deterrence and protection strategy (Art. 5, NATO) has thus ensured Norwegian sovereignty since 1949.
Norway Norwegian security in the Barents sea continues to be driven by a defence against the powerful presence of the Russian Federation. Consequently, Norway has requested one of the most substantial Arctic defence policies in the entire NATO alliance. The NATO membership has been the pillar of Norwegian defence since they joined, and continues to be so today. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) transformed Norway into a central arctic player, holding a maritime jurisdiction of two million square-kilometres, six times the countries’ own land territory. However, the debate on maritime borders is still highly disputed in the Barents Sea. This is connected with the issue that the arctic was not a priority during the United Nations establishment of UNCLOS in 1982. The Arctic is not mentioned anywhere in its legal framework, which has created legal contestation between the Arctic states. The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, affected the bilateral relationship greatly, and cooperation and diplomacy were reduced. Consequently, scholars have suggested the return of more realist geopolitics in the Barents Sea, The bilateral relationship cannot be taken out of the power politics between NATO and Russia. These realist policies can further polarize the region and hinder cooperation. In 2018, NATO's military exercise ‘Trident Juncture’ further challenged the bilateral relationship. The exercise was the largest military exercise held in the high north – which included over 51,000 soldiers, 248 planes, and about 10 000 vehicles – including over 60 naval vessels.
Russia Russia's ambition in the Barents sea is connected to the strategic importance of the oceans' abundance of natural resources. However, the region is also strongly connected to its own maritime military capabilities, where its largest base for naval forces is located in Murmansk. Moreover, Russia's drills and naval capabilities have grown significantly in the area since 2014. On the Kola Peninsula Russia has over the last five years been working on modernizing its military capabilities. The Barents Sea is a base area for Russian nuclear weapons, as over half of Russia's maritime nuclear warhead, totalling 416 of 752, are connected to ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) in operation from Gadzhiyevo, Murmansk. Geopolitics Due to the diplomatic effects of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the trilateral Russian-US- Norwegian military exercise “Northern Eagle” was cancelled that same year (Nilsen, 2014). In the spring of 2014, NATO stopped all of its civilian and military cooperation with Russia. Thus, the combination of the annexation of Crimea and the large NATO exercise Trident Juncture creates the potential for further militarisation. Russia has since increased their ‘snap drills’ in the Barents sea, starting with an exercise in June 2018, which included 36 naval vessels and 20 military aircraft. In 2017 the Russian Defence ministry suggested that the Svalbard dispute holds the potential for future conflict with Norway, and in consequence, NATO. The Svalbard Fishery Protection Zone (FPZ) remains a concern for both Russia and Norway, as arrests of fishing vessels have consistently had the potential to escalate towards larger conflict. The establishment of the Arctic Council in 1996 opened up for increased multilateral cooperation in the Barents sea. While Russian authorities have been positive to cooperation via the Arctic Council, the council itself does not discuss matters of security. This is in accordance with Article 2 (a1) of the Ottawa Declaration. Moreover, Russia's annexation of Crimea suspended the NATO-Russian council (Hykkerud, 2019). Thus, the Barents Sea is currently lacking a military forum in which to build dialogue and trust. China received observer status in 2013, with much debate. The other Non-Arctic States that have observer status in the Arctic council include Germany (1998), the United Kingdom (1998), Poland (1998), The Netherlands (1998), France (2000), Spain (2006), Italy (2013), Japan (2013), India (2013), Korea (2013), Singapore (2013) and Switzerland (2017) (Arctic Council, n.d.)
Climate change
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