Russia’s speaker asks parliament to look at scrapping Norway sea treaty

The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament asked a senior lawmaker on Tuesday (5 July) to look into scrapping a treaty that establishes the country’s maritime border with NATO member Norway.

The treaty, which was signed in 2010, aimed to put an end to disputes between Russia and Norway in the Barents Sea, the part of the Arctic Ocean adjoining the northern coasts of Norway and Russia.

Russia, Norway ease borders, seek oil cooperation

Russia and Norway agreed on Tuesday (2 November) to ease frontier controls and said they hoped for cooperation on oil and gas exploration after a deal earlier this year ended a four-decade dispute over Arctic seas.

Responding to comments in parliament accusing Norway of blocking food deliveries destined for Russian-populated settlements on the Svalbard archipelago, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin asked the head of the chamber’s international affairs committee to look into “denouncing” the treaty.

“Let’s ask Leonid Eduardovich Slutsky to look into this issue and then inform deputies,” he said.

Slutsky is a deputy of the State Duma of Russia, head of the foreign affairs committee and a leading member of the right-wing populist ‘Liberal Democratic Party of Russia’ party.

Svalbard, located between Norway’s north coast and the North Pole, is part of Norway, but Russia has the right to exploit its natural resources under a 1920 treaty, and some of its settlements are populated mainly by Russians.

Norway seeks explanation over Rogozin’s visit to Svalbard

Norway has demanded an explanation from Moscow after Russia’s deputy prime minister, who is banned from the country by international sanctions, visited a Norwegian island.

Norway denies that it is blocking access to Svalbard, arguing that it is only applying international sanctions in response to Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, and that Russia has other ways to supply the settlements.

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