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Russia eyes Arctic studies consortium with Asian countries

It is added that Russia currently has the opportunity to offer financial, political and information mechanisms for long-term cooperation in Arctic research under the Consortium

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The Russian-Asian Consortium for Arctic Research could be a platform to support scientific research in the Arctic, an expert of the Murmansk State Technical University, Zhanna Vasilyeva, told the Arctic 2023 international conference on Thursday.

"We need to take a strategic decision so that we could manage the studies," she said. "We need to have a certain scientific program, some fund, which supports specifically the Arctic studies. It could be a platform, based on the Consortium, which would be similar to the UArctic University," she said.

Earlier, Anatoly Nikolaev of the Ammosov Northeastern Federal University said the University of the Arctic (UArctic) - a network of international universities, colleges and research institutions - had refused to work with Russian organizations. UArctic is involved in studies in and about the North and adjacent territories. However, the Ammosov University's representative said, Russia continues to create various kinds of consortia, since not only Arctic countries are interested in Arctic issues. For example, in November, 2022, Russia organized the Russian-Asian Consortium for Arctic Research. Its priority is the preservation of the linguistic and cultural heritage of the peoples living in the Arctic.

Russia currently has the opportunity to offer financial, political and information mechanisms for long-term cooperation in Arctic research under the Consortium, Vasilyeva added.

While commenting on her suggestions, the University's representative Evgeny Solovyov told TASS the implementation of that idea would open for the Russian science additional financial opportunities in the Arctic. "In case of a certain fund to support specifically Arctic research, it would be the response from the Russian science to the political events into which we are being pushed. If the Russian Scientific Foundation had a competition focusing on the Arctic, then the universities could have avoided excessive competition, announced throughout the country," he explained.

According to the presentation, which Nikolayev delivered at the conference, the Consortium unites eleven universities, two colleges, two NGOs and one scientific organization. The agreement on the Consortium's establishment was inked in November, 2022.

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