Russian Delegation Visit to MP-IDSA | Prospects of India-Russia Cooperation in the Arctic

A five-member delegation from Russian academia and universities dealing with projects related to the Arctic and International Studies in Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg and Murmansk visited MP-IDSA on 7 February 2024 for an interaction with scholars at the Institute on the theme ‘Prospects of India-Russia Cooperation in the Arctic’. The Russian delegation included Dr. Anton S. Kovshov, Director and Ms. Ekaterina V. Serova, Deputy Director, the Arctic Center, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk. Dr. Mikhail V. Vasyokha, Head of the Department of Marine Oil and Gas Engineering and Dr. Zhanna V. Vasilyeva, Head of the Department of Ecology and Technosphere Safety, were from Murmansk Arctic University, Murmansk. The fifth member of the delegation was Dr. Kirill A. Likhachev, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of International Relations, School of International Relations, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. The interaction was chaired by Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy, Director General, MP-IDSA, New Delhi.

Detailed Report

In his opening remarks, the Director General, Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy formally welcomed the Russian Delegation to MP-IDSA. He highlighted the strengths of India-Russia bilateral relations and acknowledged that there exists strong cooperation between the two countries despite global geopolitical uncertainties. DG mentioned that the bilateral trade between India and Russia has surpassed the US$50 billion mark in 2023. He emphasised that these high trade figures are mainly a result of India’s increased imports of Russian hydrocarbons and there is a need to diversify our trade to new areas. DG highlighted the emerging importance of the Arctic region from environmental, economic and strategic perspectives. He mentioned that the limited cooperation in the working groups of the Arctic Council without Russia, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of the coastal extent in the region, remains a cause of concern. DG further mentioned that India supports the development of Russia’s Northern Sea Route and its Far East regions. He highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Act Far East Policy’ and emphasised that India in 2019 allocated a US$1 billion line of credit for the development of Russia’s Far East. DG acknowledged Russia’s decision to train Indian seafarers for Polar Regions and highlighted that Indian seafarers globally contribute 10 per cent of manpower for global shipping. He mentioned that as shipping activity in the NSR develops it offers further prospects for Indian seafarers in Arctic waters. Post these opening remarks, DG welcomed the presentations from the Russian delegation.

Dr. Anton S. Kovshov, Director, Arctic Center, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk thanked Ambassador Chinoy for inviting them all to MP-IDSA. He acknowledged all the points made by Ambassador Chinoy and emphasised the need for more people-to-people cooperation between the two countries. Dr. Anton highlighted that the Arctic presents immense opportunities for both Russia and India and at the Arctic Centre, at Petrozavodsk State University their research remains focused on understanding multiple aspects of the Arctic. Dr. Anton highlighted that their Institute conducts multiple activities on Arctic Science, geo-economics, climate change, potential resources in the Arctic and other related aspects via seminars, conferences and publications in both Russian and English language. Dr. Anton highlighted that they are interested in better understanding India’s interests in the Arctic and welcomed the future participation of scholars from MP-IDSA in these. Dr. Anton then invited his colleague Ms. Ekaterina V. Serova to elaborate further on this very aspect.

Ms. Ekaterina V. Serova, in the proceeding slides of the presentation, highlighted the geographical importance of Petrozavodsk State University in the Republic of Karelia from the Arctic perspective. Ms. Serova highlighted India-Russia's increasing annual trade figures and mentioned that the Karelia region accounts for a significant portion of this trade. She then emphasised they are further exploring opportunities for undertaking research about the Indian market to promote Russian products produced by the Arctic SMEs. Ms. Serova mentioned that India can simultaneously seek opportunities for exploring the Russian Arctic region to promote the products of Indian SMEs. Ms. Serova mentioned that their Institute focuses on undertaking research on various Arctic-related projects and she highlighted funding opportunities for Indian researchers. She mentioned that the Gorchakov Fund holds two grant competitions per year and Indian researchers could consider applying to those. Ms. Serova mentioned that their Institute, ‘The Arctic Centre’ organised two major events i.e. ‘The Arctic Business School in Karelia’ and “The Expert Seminar on Science Diplomacy in the Arctic under Global Changes’ in the past that received huge participation. Lastly, Ms. Serova highlighted their Institute's major upcoming event ‘The Arctic: Our Global Neighbourhood’, scheduled for May 2024. She welcomed Indian participation in it via physical or online mode.

Dr. Kirill A. Likhachev made the second presentation and highlighted the opportunities for Indian scholars at Saint Petersburg State University. Dr Likhachev in his presentation mentioned that Saint Petersburg State University is celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2024 whereas the School of International Relations (SIR) is marking its 30th anniversary in February 2024. Dr. Likhachev highlighted that SIR in the past has hosted significant events focusing on International Relations, particularly the South Asia region where scholars from India and different parts of the world have participated in large numbers. He also highlighted the ‘Asian Dialogue Program’ of Saint Petersburg State University and mentioned that Dr. Ashok K. Behuria and Dr. Rajorshi Roy from MP-IDSA have participated in the same. Dr. Likhachev mentioned that they are hosting the 2nd Congress of International Relations Researchers, from April 25-27, 2024 and he welcomed participation from MP-IDSA scholars. Lastly, Dr. Likhachev emphasised though that there remain some complex geopolitical challenges between India and China, there is a need to restart trilateral dialogue between Russia-India-China, at least at scholars and expert levels. He concluded his presentation by highlighting that there are many existing issues of geopolitical concern in South Asia and Russia where both Indian and Russian scholars can undertake collective research in due course.

The third and final presentation was made by Dr. Mikhail Vasekha and Dr. Zhanna Vasileva jointly. Dr. Mikhail Vasekha started his presentation by highlighting that Murmansk remains the most important port city when it comes to the Arctic. He mentioned that Murmansk plays an important role in Russia’s Arctic connectivity and the city remains engaged in mining, fish processing and marine research. Dr. Vasekha emphasised that their research at Murmansk Arctic University focuses on Marine technologies, Arctic bioresources, Environmental technologies and technosphere safety, Arctic mineral and hydrocarbon resources and offshore logistics. He also mentioned that despite geopolitical challenges, they to an extent, have continued to maintain their existing cooperation with the universities of Scandinavian countries. Apart from this, he mentioned that the Murmansk Arctic University holds Summer and Winter schools in which MP-IDSA can consider participating. Dr. Vasekha lastly gave an overview of some of the ongoing and planned projects at Murmansk Arctic University that included the Development of Arctic Logistics', the Northern Sea Route and the Expansion of the Possibilities of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). He then invited his colleague Dr. Zhanna Vasileva to give a detailed account of some of the ongoing scientific projects on the Arctic at their university.

Dr. Zhanna Vasileva highlighted that her area of research mainly focuses on studying the scientific aspects of the Arctic. She mentioned that some of their ongoing projects include ‘Monitoring and assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from ships in the waters of the NSR’, ‘Assessment and forecast of the environmental impact of maritime transport and port development in the Barents Region’, ‘Low-Carbon Marine Logistics and Cross-Border Carbon Regulation in the Arctic’, ‘Development of solutions for the elimination of emergency oil spills and technologies for the restoration of natural environments in the arctic shelf’ and a project involving ‘the study of marine sediments (MS) of the arctic seas’.

In her presentation, Dr. Vasileva gave a detailed account of the various scientific methodologies that they are employing in the study of these projects. She also highlighted some of the possible results that are expected from these ongoing projects. Dr. Vasileva mentioned that they are open to collaboration and partnerships from Indian scientific communities, universities and research Institutes that are involved or interested in undertaking research in these domains. Lastly, Dr. Vasileva highlighted that the Murmansk Arctic University in collaboration with Russia’s ‘Roscosmos’ is opening a Space Information Center in 2024 at Murmansk Arctic University. She mentioned that this would be instrumental in the accumulation and processing of AIS information and Earth sensing data, for integration with additional databases on navigation (databases of ports and Administration of the Northern Sea Route) and security (the base of the Ministry of Emergency Situations) in the waters of the Northern Sea Route.

Both Dr. Mikhail Vasekha and Dr. Zhanna Vasileva made their presentations mainly in Russian Language which were simultaneously translated in English by Ms. Ekaterina V. Serova.   

Questions and Comments

The Director General, Amb. Chinoy complimented the members of the Russian delegation for their detailed presentations. He highlighted that ‘Arctic Tourism’ could become an important area for enhancing India-Russia bilateral cooperation. DG mentioned that there is immense potential in this regard where the Russian side could consider exploring opportunities in the Indian tourism industry. He mentioned that in the post-COVID pandemic recovery years, India’s outbound tourism has witnessed a significant increase.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Sinha mentioned that India, despite being a distant country, remains well-informed regarding the geopolitical and environmental transitions in the Arctic. He also highlighted that India in 2022 came up with its first Arctic Policy document that presents a detailed account of India’s interests in the region.

Dr. Rajorshi Roy highlighted that India-Russia cooperation on any aspect in the Arctic could enhance bilateral cooperation between both countries. He asked the delegation if they could elaborate a bit on ‘How the developments in the Russian Far East have contributed to more attraction of Asian states interests towards the Arctic?’ He also asked the delegation to comment on China's increasing presence in the Russian Arctic.

Dr. Swasti Rao also asked the delegation about the increasing China-Russia cooperation in the Arctic. She further asked the delegation to comment on China’s increasing role in various energy projects in the Arctic.

Dr. Jason asked the delegation about the possibilities of expanding the business of Indian Film Industry in the Russian Arctic. He highlighted that the Arctic offers perfect locations for undertaking cinematographic shoots that could open business opportunities for Indian Bollywood Industry.

Ms. Anandita asked the delegation whether the Russian side is looking for possibilities of expanding Russian businesses via SMEs to Indian markets or whether this could also be explored the other way around.

All the members of the Russian delegation gave detailed remarks to all the comments raised. The interaction ended with a formal note of thanks and an exchange of books and mementoes from both sides.

Report prepared by Mr. Bipandeep Sharma, Research Analyst, Non-Traditional Security Centre, MP-IDSA.