Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s video address to the participants in the 13th session of the Arctic Council, May 11, 2023

Colleagues,

I am glad to welcome participants and organisers of the Arctic Council’s 13th session in Salekhard, the capital of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area.

The Arctic region, which is playing an increasingly important role in world politics and the economy, is one of Russia's priorities. The updated Foreign Policy Concept, approved by President Vladimir Putin in late March 2023, acknowledges the importance of the Arctic for the strategic interests of our country.

As a country presiding in the Arctic Council in 2021-2023, Russia has invariably acted in line with the common interest, which is to ensure the sustainable and safe development of the entire Arctic region, the wellbeing of the Arctic population, including the indigenous peoples of the North. The Russian presidency’s comprehensive programme was oriented towards achieving these objectives. More than 100 themed forums, some of them with international participants, were held as part of the programme.

Unfortunately, the Council’s full-scale activity was suspended by Western member countries under the absolutely far-fetched pretext that it related to the situation in Ukraine, which was provoked by the Western countries themselves. We consider this step by our Western colleagues politically motivated and counterproductive as it leads to a disintegration of collective approaches to the responsible management of the Arctic.

However, we still believe that the Arctic states bear a special responsibility for the consistent development of this region. It is our understanding that further effective work and the future of the Arctic Council in general will depend on whether we can find possibilities to continue a civilised dialogue in the interests of preserving the Arctic as a territory of peace, stability and constructive cooperation. These are the objectives set forth in the 2021 Ministerial Declaration and the Strategic Plan of the Arctic Council until 2030.

I wish all participants in the session a successful work.