U.S. and Russian officials are looking into potential cooperation on Arctic trade routes and resource exploration after they held high-level talks last week, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the discussions.
Negotiator and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriyev told reporters on Feb. 18 that the two sides had discussed “joint projects in the Arctic” during the U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, the first since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow’s focus on Arctic issues was underscored by the participation of Vladimir Proskuryakov, a Russian Foreign Ministry official specializing in Arctic affairs, in last week’s talks.
Washington views Arctic cooperation as a potential way to “drive a wedge” between Moscow and Beijing, Bloomberg cited one source as saying. However, the source noted that the effort is unlikely to succeed due to the Russian-Chinese “no-limits” partnership.
Bloomberg’s report did not specify which Arctic projects were discussed at the Saudi Arabia talks.
Russia and the United States are among eight Arctic nations, while China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018. The U.S. Department of Defense has previously warned of growing Russian-Chinese alignment in the region.
In 2012, U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil partnered with Russia’s state-owned Rosneft to invest $500 million in Arctic and Black Sea oil exploration. ExxonMobil withdrew from the joint venture in 2018 due to Western sanctions over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Hundreds of Western companies have since exited Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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