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U.S.-Russian Cooperation in the Arctic Promoted by Senior Russian Figure

Igor Ivanov, a former Foreign Minister from 1998 to 2004, has proposed that the Obama Administration's new ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, devote his attention to Russian-American cooperation, for example in the Arctic, rather than continuing his initial mode of conduct (cf. New U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Goes for Regime Change), in an interview in the Jan. 20 Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Ivanov told the government daily he was sure Mr. McFaul was well aware that classical diplomacy has its "well-established rules, which bear a universal character." However, "Even in diplomacy, improvisations, and occasionally, original ones, are possible. The whole question is whether they are a reflection of the individual's eccentricity (history knows many such examples), or whether they are dictated by far-reaching political considerations of some kind." A diplomatically worded statement, but a loaded one.

Ivanov, who was Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation from 2004-2008, went on to propose an agenda for McFaul to concentrate on, in order to improve bilateral relations,which are extremely "fragile" at present:

1. The first area would be strategic military relations. While expressing confidence that escalation to a "new Cold War" could be avoided, Ivanov warned that "the absence of progress on the missile defense problem is very serious."

2. Potential trade expansion between the two nations: "The growing problems of the world economy are also nudging us toward closer Russian-American collaboration."

3. Most striking, Ivanov called for more cooperation in the Pacific region and the joint development of the Arctic, where both the US and Russia have special interests: "Collaboration on the problem of Afghanistan or North Korea is undoubtedly very important, but such collaboration still does not create a stable and positive basis for bilateral relations. It seems that this year there are two additional strategic opportunities for joint work at a regional level. There is cooperation between the two countries in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of the Russian chairmanship of APEC, and the potential of bilateral (and equally, of multilateral) projects in the Arctic zone, where both countries have extremely substantial interests."

4. Lastly, he delicately advised McFaul, whose high-profile reception of the protest leaders has stirred up the Moscow political scene, to readjust his "civil society" agenda, stating that "civil society is not only a narrow group of human rights defenders or political dissidents in the capital cities."

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