ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE: THE UNITED STATES VS THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Abstract

This paper mainly discusses the legal status of straits contained within the Northern Sea Route (‘NSR’). It is necessary to affirm the legal status to determine the type of navigation. Currently, one State that is in contentionto Russian Federation’s (‘Russia’) authority over the NSR is the United States (‘US’), their main argument relates to the straits being of international water character and as such should not be part of Russia’s authority. In any case, Russia still asserts that even the straits contained within the NSR is part of their internal waters arguing on a historical basis and Article 234 of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (‘UNCLOS’). The pressing urgency also comes from the climate change that is rapidly decreasing the ice caps in the Arctic in the recent years, consequently, this opens avenues for international navigations through the NSR. Followingthe current understanding of the Arctic sovereignty, this prompt both challenges and opportunities for Russia and could lead to the resolving of conflict between Russia and the US.