The Svalbard Treaty or the Svalbard Treaty is a frozen point of conflict between NATO and Russia for the time being.
More than 100 years ago, as a result of the end of the First World War, the victorious countries concluded the Svalbard Treaty or the Svalbard Treaty.
Great geopolitical shifts after the end of the First World War affected the Spitsbergen archipelago, which was the northern key to the Atlantic Ocean.
Under an international treaty, Norway was the bearer of sovereignty over this vast archipelago.
Although in place of Norway there could be Great Britain and the USA and France and other countries.
Norwegian sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago was secured and approved as a compromise between the high negotiating parties that divided the world after the World War.
I must say that before the Great War, Svalbard was an uninhabited no man’s land. And only after the war, in order to preempt possible territorial claims, the archipelago was assigned to Norway — a country without global ambitions with a peaceful, non-aggressive population.
Already after the signing of the Treaty on Svalbard, Soviet Russia joined it.
The Svalbard Treaty stated that although the territory of the archipelago was under Norwegian sovereignty, it was possible to conduct any economic or scientific activity on it.
Initially, the significance of the northern archipelago was none, neither economic nor strategic, nor even military, the demilitarized status of which was spelled out in the contract.
However, after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union was the first to appreciate the strategic importance of the northern archipelago. Placing a military base on Svalbard would be very useful for the growing oceanic ambitions of the USSR and would block the entrance to the Soviet Arctic zone.
In the 40s of the last twentieth century, the predecessor of the «Caribbean crisis» arose around Svalbard. The USSR demanded that Norway limit sovereignty over the archipelago.
However, in the context of the beginning of the Cold War, the United States and Great Britain took the side of a small Scandinavian country. The economy and military power of the Soviet Union at sea still wished for the best and the status quo of the Svalbard Treaty or the Svalbard Treaty remained unchanged.
Svalbard was excluded from military plans for many years by both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Norway, over time, on the basis of its sovereignty, announced that the archipelago had its own economic zone. Fishing for cod in the waters of the Svalbard Archipelago now had to be done with the permission of the Norwegian government.
Initially, this decision of Norway caused a storm of indignation. However, countries have recognized that fishing must be paid to the Norwegian budget.
Although there were conflicts. So in 2005, Norwegian border guards detained a Russian fishing seiner that was fishing for cod in the waters of Svalbard without the permission of the Norwegian government.
Then the Russian seiner refused to go to the Norwegian port and escaped to Murmansk with two captured Norwegian border guards on board.
The conflict was resolved through diplomacy under Russian President Medvedev, who recognized Norwegian economic interests in the coastal waters of Svalbard in 2010.
The spoon was found, but the sediment remained.
There is no doubt that this sediment was on the scales when, in 2022, Norway was deciding whether to join NATO.
Now Turkey. Turkey, as is well known, blocked the decision of the NATO Assembly to admit Turkey to this military-political bloc, exactly until it received, among other things, an invitation to join the Svalbard Treaty or the Svalbard Treaty.
Now Turkey announces its desire to conduct economic activities in the archipelago.
Thus, the President of Turkey is expanding the economic expansion of his country in the territory in the water area bordering the Arctic Ocean.
It would seem that why Turkey needs the ice of the northern ocean?
Then, under the conditions of global warming, there is less and less ice there. But the prospects for a new transport artery from Europe to Asia are becoming clearer and clearer.
And the wise Recep Erdogan breaks through the prospect for Turkey into the 21st century.
Yes, but the Northern Sea Route is under the control of the Russian Federation. Will she allow outsiders to invade her fiefdom?
And the Russian Federation is now busy with the war in Ukraine, the Russian Federation’s hands and feet are now tied by sanctions and, most importantly, the WAR that is moving into a protracted phase.
And the way out of the Russian-Ukrainian war for Russia is still vague and unclear.
Here, under the noise of missile strikes and fierce battles on Ukrainian territory, it is possible to advance foreign interests in the waters of the Arctic Ocean.
And who will prevent them from actually moving Russia away from the management of the Northern Sea Highway from Europe to China and Asia?
The first trial balloon has already been launched — Norway, as part of the EU sanctions against Russia, is already restricting the delivery of goods to the Russian economic enclave on Svalbard.
What will be the response of Russia? Most likely they will “not notice” the infringement … As they practically “did not notice” the blockade of the Kaliningrad region by Lithuania
Step by step….
This was “not noticed” in the Kremlin, but everyone notices it very well in Finland, Japan, Afghanistan
And it is not known when the quantity will suddenly turn into quality while Russia is waging a protracted and costly war in Ukraine.
