[News Terms] Barents Euro-Arctic Council Withdrawn by Russia

The Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) is an international organization established to strengthen cooperation among the Barents Sea coastal countries, which was a region of military confrontation during the Cold War, with the long-term goal of reducing military tensions and promoting peace and stability.

Founded in 1993, it is primarily led by the EU and Russia. It consists of seven members: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Russia, and the European Commission (EC). Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia take turns serving as the chairmanship every two years. Currently, Finland holds the chairmanship, but this fall Finland is supposed to hand over the chairmanship to Russia. However, Nordic countries including Finland have suspended cooperation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Arctic Ocean. The Barents Sea is a sea located on the route to the Arctic Ocean. It is considered a strategic key point where Murmansk Port, Russia's ice-free port, is located.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

The Barents Sea, located south of the Arctic Ocean and serving as a gateway to it, is a 1,046 km wide body of water bordering the Scandinavian Peninsula and northwestern Russia. It is also close to Iceland and Greenland. The name comes from the 16th-century Dutch explorer Willem Barents, who sailed this sea while searching for a new route to India.

Murmansk port, home to the Russian Northern Fleet, is located here and is considered the heart of the Russian Navy. The Russian Navy regards this area as a strategic stronghold for advancing into Europe. During World War II, the Allied forces, including the former Soviet Union, fought fiercely against German forces in this region.

In 2020, the United States and United Kingdom conducted joint military exercises in the Barents Sea for the first time since the end of the Cold War in the 1980s, raising concerns about a potential reemergence of new Cold War tensions between the Western bloc and Russia.

On the 18th (local time), Russian news agency TASS and others reported that Russia declared its withdrawal from BEAC. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release that "due to the faults of Western participating countries, BEAC's activities have been essentially paralyzed since March of last year."

Russia also noted that although it is scheduled to assume the rotating chairmanship in October, the current chair, Finland, is not properly fulfilling this role. Russia claimed, "The current political actions taken by our Nordic neighbors do not align with the long-term interests of the Arctic residents," and asserted, "The collapse of the Barents cooperation framework is entirely the responsibility of our partners."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.