MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Russia and all other Arctic Council members want to preserve the body, Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Department of European Problems at the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russia’s senior official in the Arctic Council, said at a briefing.

"Contrary to Western speculation, Russia does not seek to create any replacement for the Arctic Council or some other multilateral mechanism that would duplicate its functions," the diplomat noted.

He emphasized that all members of the council, including Russia, "have expressed their intention to preserve it, and that there is still hope that the organization will eventually come out of its almost five-year hibernation."

"Meanwhile, it’s hardly possible to replace the Arctic Council with some other formats with other members," Maslennikov pointed out. "The reason is that this platform primarily offers an opportunity for discussions between Arctic nations and indigenous people living in the region, which certainly have some prerogatives there."

However, Russia cannot "ignore the growing interest in cooperation that non-regional countries show," the Foreign Ministry official noted. "For our part, we are always glad to share our unique Arctic expertise and learn from useful achievements of our foreign colleagues. And we are always open to new promising projects," the diplomat concluded.