How Russian Arctic policies are committing Arctic states in their search for energy resources in the region

This research looks into the Russian Arctic policies and how Russia is meeting Western countries in their Arctic political strategies for access to energy resources in the region, and how Russian Arctic policy is implemented and will develop in the future. The main reason for selecting the Arctic is that the region has become increasingly significant for Russia and the Arctic has received a rising attention especially after Russia planted the flag on the North Pole seabed in 2007. The Arctic attention are driven by the oil and gas resources discovered in the region and a substantial amount of these resources can be found in Russia which is the country with the longest coastline to the Arctic. The methodological approaches applied to the research are the epistemological interpretivism combined with the ontological constructivism where the understanding of the situation researched is essential for the participants' thinking of the objects researched. The research methods applied are interviews, a standardised questionnaire sent to the interviewees and case studies covering the topic. The research findings imply that for Russia the Arctic Council is less significant in Arctic development and the Arctic Five member states increased their influence after the Ilulissat meeting. The research detects that there are substantial energy resources in the Arctic and these are valuable to Russia for economical growth and national political stability to retain their powerful global position. To reach their Arctic policy goals Russia is using cooperation and especially bilateral cooperation through the Arctic Five countries or they delegate political goals to state owned companies participating in joint ventures to secure involvement in the region.;The research concludes that the Arctic oil and gas resources are crucial to Russia and their political and economical development, and Russia is likely to use cooperation to reach their goal of increased resource extraction from the region, and cooperation takes place both at the governmental level and also through Russian corporations. This situation is likely to be sustainable in the future as Russia has stated in their state policy document to maintain the Arctic as a zone for peace and cooperation.