The Kara Sea as an object of international legal policy of Russia

INRTODUCTION. Of all the Arctic seas going into the coast of Siberia, the Kara Sea is conspicuous because of delineation by islands from the rest of the Arctic Ocean. These islands are undisputedly under the sovereignty of Russia from the time immemorial. Such peculiarities have predetermined the character of the power of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and the contemporary Russia relevant to the Cara Sea. In 2022 seven western States-Members of the Arctic Council introduced their disagreements with Russia relating to the non-Arctic issue, thus breaking the traditional “immunity” of the Arctic from political and legal conflicts in other regions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The author researched the legal documents of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation along with the research publications relating to the status of the Kara Sea. The methodological basis of the research methods as well as specific methods of jurisprudence are used.

RESEARCH RESULTS. In the period of the Russian Empire the international law advisor to the Head of the Russian State asserted only the possibility to qualify the Kara Sea as internal waters of Russia. However, in the period of the Soviet Union the soviet legal scholars unanimously qualified the Kara Sea as part of the state territory of the USSR. However, at the official level no relevant legal act was adopted. In 1985 the Decree of the Government of the USSR was adopted according to which for the first time in the history the previous doctrinal position was dismissed and most of the Kara Sea was qualified as the waters beyond the state’s maritime territory.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. In the author’s opinion, the 1985 the Decree of the Government of the USSR have consequences in the context of general international law, that is it is impossible for the modern Russia to return back to the soviet legal position as formulated by the soviet legal teachings. However, the 2022 breaking by the seven western Arctic states the traditional Arctic “immunity” from the non-Arctic conflicts (as noted above) has made legitimate the responsive measures of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. In this context Russia is entitled to respond by strengthening its regulatory measures in the Kara Sea. The relevant research views regarding such measures are suggested in this article.

1. Arkticheskii region. Problemy mezhdunarodnogo sotrudnichestva. V trekh tomakh. Tom 3. Primenimye pravovye istochniki. Gl. red. I.S. Ivanov [Arctic region. Problems of international cooperation. In three volumes. Volume 3. Applicable legal sources. Ed. by I.S. Ivanov]. Moscow. Aspekt Press Publ. 2013. 660 p. (In Russ.)

2. Byers M. International Law and the Arctic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2013. 337 p.

3. Dodin D.A. [et al.]. Uzlovye problemy obespecheniya ekonomicheskogo razvitiya rossiiskoi Arktiki [Key problems of ensuring economic development of the Russian Arctic]. – Arktika. Ekologiya i ekonomika. 2011. No. 4. P. 63-79. (In Russ.)

4. Durdenevskii V.N. Problema pravovogo rezhima pripolyarnykh oblastei [The problem of the legal regime of the circumpolar regions]. – Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. 1950. No. 7. P. 111-114. (In Russ.)

5. Efendiev O.F. Arkticheskie vody [Arctic Waters]. – Sovremennoe mezhdunarodnoe morskoe pravo. Rezhim vod i dna mirovogo okeana. Otv. red. M.I. Lazarev [Modern international maritime law. Regime of the waters and bottom of the world's oceans. Ed. by M.I. Lazarev]. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 1974. P. 184-190. (In Russ.)

6. Gureev S.A., Bunik I.V. O neobkhodimosti podtverzhdeniya i pravovogo zakrepleniya isklyuchitel'nykh prav Rossii v Arktike [On the need to confirm and legally consolidate Russia’s exclusive rights in the Arctic]. – Morskaya deyatel'nost' Rossiiskoi Federatsii: sostoyanie i problemy zakonodatel'nogo obespecheniya. Pod red. A.V. Popova [Maritime activities of the Russian Federation: state and problems of legislative support. Ed. by A.V. Popov]. Moscow. 2005. P. 162–164. (In Russ.)

7. Ivanenko V.S. Fedor Fedorovich Martens – vo i vne svoego vremeni i prostranstva: vzglyad cherez stoletie [Fedor Fedorovich Martens - in and outside of his time and space: a look through a century]. – Pravovedenie. 2009. No. 2. P.31-36. (In Russ.)

8. Lakhtin V.L. Prava na severnye polyarnye prostranstva [Rights to the northern polar spaces]. Moscow: Litizdat Narodnogo Komissariata po Inostrannym Delam Publ. 1928. 48 p. (In Russ.)

9. Martens F.F. Sovremennoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo tsivilizovannykh narodov. T.1 [Modern international law of civilized nations. Vol.1] Moscow: “Yuridicheskii kolledzh MGU” Publ. 1996. 313 p. (In Russ.)

10. Mezhdunarodno-pravovaya kvalifikatsiya morskikh raionov v kachestve istoricheskikh vod (teoriya i praktika gosudarstv). Pod red. A.N. Vylegzhanina [International legal qualification of marine areas as historical waters (theory and practice of states). Ed. by A.N. Vylegzhanin]. Moscow: MGIMO-Universitet Publ. 2012. 112 p. (In Russ.)

11. Molodtsov S.V. Mezhdunarodnoe morskoe pravo [International Law of the Sea]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ. 1987. 272 p. (In Russ.)

12. Nikolaev A.N. Territorial'noe more [Territorial Sea]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ. 1969. 158 p. (In Russ.)

13. Odnopozov P.S. Mezhdunarodno-pravovoi rezhim Arktiki [International Legal Regime of the Arctic]. – Pravovedenie. 1973. No. 4. P. 78-82. (In Russ.)

14. Scovazzi T. The Baseline of the Territorial Sea: the Practice of Arctic States. – The Law of the Sea and Polar Maritime Delimitation and Jurisdiction. Ed by A. G.O. Elferink, D.R. Rothwell. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. 2001. P. 69-84.

15. Shinkaretskaya G.G. Arkticheskii shel'f i ne uchastvuyushchie v Konventsii OON po morskomu pravu 1982 g. gosudarstva [The Arctic shelf and states not party to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea]. – Morskie prostranstva Arktiki: sovremennyi pravovoi opyt. Sbornik nauchnykh statei [Arctic maritime spaces: modern legal experience. A collection of scientific articles.]. Moscow: SKF Publ. 2013. P. 76-95. (In Russ.)

16. Voronin E.G., Kulebyakin V.N., Nikolaev A.V. Gosudarstvennyi perevorot v Kieve v fevrale 2014 g.: mezhdunarodno-pravovye otsenki i posledstviya [The Coup d’etat in Kiev in February 2014: International Law Context and Consequences]. – Moscow Journal of International Law. 2015. No. 1. P. 11-28. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2015-1-11-28

17. Voronin E.R. K 170-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya professora F.F. Martensa (1845-1909) [To the 170th Anniversary of Professor F.F. Martens (1845-1909)]. – Moscow Journal of International Law. 2015. No. 3. P. 24-36. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2015-3-24-36

18. Vylegzhanin A.N. [et al.]. Budushchee Arkticheskogo soveta [The future of the Arctic Council]. Moscow: Rossiiskii sovet po mezhdunarodnym delam Publ. 2023. 23 p. (In Russ.)

19. Vylegzhanin A.N., Dudykina I.P. Iskhodnye linii v Arktike: primenimoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo [Baselines in the Arctic: Applicable International Law.]. Moscow: MGIMOUniversitet Publ. 2018. 174 p. (In Russ.)

20. Vylegzhanin A.N., Magomedova O.S. Mezhdunarodnopravovaya politika gosudarstva: sovremennye kontseptsii [International legal policy of a state. Modern concepts]. – Mezhdunarodnye protsessy. 2022. Vol. 20. No. 3. P. 112-117. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17994/IT.2022.20.3.70.7

21. Vylegzhanin A.N., Nazarov V.P., Bunik I.V. Severnyi morskoi put': k resheniyu politiko-pravovykh problem [Northern Sea Route: towards solving political and legal problems]. – Vestnik Rossiiskoi Akademii nauk. 2020. Vol. 90. No. 12. P. 1105-1118. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.31857/S0869587320120270

22. Zhudro A.K., Dzhavad Yu.Kh. Morskoe pravo [Law of the Sea]. Moscow: “Transport” Publ. 1974. 384 p. (In Russ.)

23. Zhudro I.S. Istoricheskie pravoosnovaniya Rossii v Arktike: sovremennaya kontseptsiya zashchity [Historical legal foundations of Russia in the Arctic: modern concept of protection]. Arkhangel'sk: Severnyi Arkticheskii federal'nyi universitet Publ. 2018. 328 p. (In Russ.)