ST. PETERSBURG, July 1. /TASS/. Arctic Council member states have suspended all contacts with the Russian Federation on international Arctic cooperation, effectively leaving the polar region’s indigenous peoples without viable cooperation platforms, Russian Ambassador-at-Large and Chair of the Council’s Senior Arctic Officials Nikolay Korchunov told TASS.

"Currently, we are observing a pause, meaning our partners have ‘frozen’ all contacts: not only in the Arctic Council itself, but also in the fields of science, youth ties, and contacts between people. This, of course, can raise nothing but concern. And the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic are also left without effective institutions and platforms where solutions that are important to them are developed," Korchunov said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.

The envoy underscored that "it is the people and the issues of improving the social well-being of the Arctic’s residents that Russia prioritizes during its presidency in the Arctic Council."

Earlier, all Arctic council member states except Russia had issued a written statement, in which they refused to attend meetings taking place under Russia’s presidency and on its soil over the situation around Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova excoriated this step as politicized and irrational.

The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental organization of Arctic States. Its members are Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, the US, Finland and Sweden. In 2021, the organization’s 25th anniversary, Russia succeeded Iceland for the two-year presidency.