MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. It will not be feasible to establish long-term cooperation with Western countries within the Arctic Council even after the full resumption of its work because the parties no longer trust each other, Nikolay Korchunov, Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large and chair of the Senior Arctic Officials Committee of the Arctic Council, said on Thursday.
"How can we make plans for long-term cooperation for the future even if the Arctic Council’s activities are resumed in some areas? It’s quite clear that we simply cannot do so because the main thing - trust - is gone," Korchunov pointed out on the sidelines of discussions hosted by the Project Office for Arctic Development.
The official noted earlier that Russia and the West continued to interact with respect to Arctic issues at both the working level and the personal level. But, this type of communication is strictly informal.
The handover of the Arctic Council presidency will take place at an online meeting after Russia’s term expires in May 2023. Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the United States, Finland and Sweden decided last June to resume the council’s work without Russia’s participation.