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Remember, Your Neighbor May See Things Differently Russia has the longest Arctic coastline of any nation, controls an infuential feet of icebreakers, and has much to gain from Arctic maritime development. Further, Russians have a proud history of Arctic exploration and maintain a powerful "frontier myth" about their northern border. For them, the Arctic is a deeply personal afair. In light of that, we should understand three overarching diferences in the way Americans and Russians view the Arctic. The Fishing Industry First, fishing companies are key economic and political powers in eastern Russia (as they are in some U.S. coastal states), and their political lobby has considerable infuence on the Russian federal legislature. This has a direct impact on how the Russian government cooperates with the USCG. For example, when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. clarifed their mutual maritime boundary in a 1990 boundary treaty, Russian fshermen felt that some of their fshing area had been surrendered to the United States, and the fshing lobby blocked Russian ratifcation. The U.S. Senate ratifed quickly, but the Duma — the Russian legislature — never has. Both nations continue to operate under an exchange of diplomatic notes to apply the agreement provisionally, and will proceed this way until the Duma ratifes the treaty. A solid understanding of Russian fsheries issues is important for all USCG leaders, even when trying to foster relationships with Russian ofcials with no connection to fsheries. Internal vs. International Waters The next diference relates to freedom of navigation on the Northern Sea Route, which may connect to USCG relationships with the Ministry of Transport (MINTRANS). Commercial ships of any fag may use the route, but only if they pay user fees to the MINTRANS. The fees pay for icebreaker escort, ice pilots, navigation improvements like improved charting, and a future string of SAR and salvage stations. www.uscg.mil/proceedings The Russian government justifes its mandatory user fees by claiming the straits in parts of the NSR as internal waters through which they can control passage. The U.S. views the straits as international and available for free transit passage. For now, while ice is a major factor in navigation safety, companies and their insurers understand the benefit of icebreaker escort and are willing to pay the mandatory fees. To date, no U.S.-fagged ships have used the route, so this has not been an immediate U.S. issue. Nevertheless, when the sea ice recedes sufciently to allow ships to transit safely without icebreakers, the conversation regarding Arctic navigation user fees will likely intensify. The "A5" vs. the "A8" Finally, whereas the U.S. government prefers to work almost exclusively within the Arctic Council, Russia is often interested in working with only the five Arctic coastal states. Russia considers the "A5" (Russia, U.S., Canada, Norway, and Denmark) the right-sized group for certain concerns, particularly oil-, gas-, and maritime-related issues. The U.S. has been clear on its preference to work with all eight Arctic states (the A5 plus Iceland, Sweden, and Finland) through the Arctic Council to gain as much consensus as possible. For specifc issues that are explicitly of interest to only the coastal states (such as polar bear management, extended continental shelf delimitation, and Arctic hydrographic work), the U.S. sometimes participates in A5-only meetings, but this is rare. Bibliography: Too much to fght over. The Economist, June 2012. Allison, Tony, Judith Thornton and Charles E. Ziegler. Russia's Far East: A Region at Risk. Seattle: National Bureau of Asian Research in association with University of Washington Press, 2002. p. 139-145. Status of Wrangel and Other Arctic Islands. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Afairs. Available at www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/128740. htm. Summer 2013 Proceedings 75