The US Department of Defense has selected Anchorage in southern Alaska as the sole location for the regional center for Arctic security studies.

It is noted that the Pentagon and the US Air Force will continue to evaluate the Anchorage facilities and to determine the center’s final location.

The Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies will conduct result-oriented Arctic security research in order to promote the Defense Department’s Arctic security priorities, and its specialists will also establish ties with other countries on this subject.

In September, the US Department of Defense said Major General Randy “Church” Kee, USAF (Retired), would serve as the Senior Advisor for Arctic Security Affairs at this Center. In 2020, General Kee was appointed Commissioner to the US Arctic Research Commission, and he was also Executive Director of the Arctic Domain Awareness Center in the US Department of Homeland Security.

The ecological safety of the northern territories was discussed by the participants of the IV All-Russian Scientific and Practical conference "Safe North - clean Arctic", which was held at Surgut State University.

Scientists from Moscow, Tomsk, Vologda, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Tyumen, Yakutsk, Petrozavodsk, as well as representatives of scientific schools and research centers of the USA, Finland, Great Britain, France discussed topical issues related to the ecology and safety of the northern territories, the development of "green" technologies in the context of global climate change and ESG transformation of the industrial sector of the economy.

Scientists focused on autonomous power sources, fuel cells based on hydrogen-generating metals and hydrides, on the transformation of organic carbon in the Laptev Sea land-shelf system, on the cultivation of forest crops as a method of recultivation of disturbed lands in the Arctic oil industry zone and other topics. Young scientists, students and postgraduates also presented their reports. So, a student of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology of SurSU Amina Kazieva conducted a study on the cultivation of shrubby or simply Kuril tea by hydroponics. The plant is included in the Red Book of Ugra and is of great scientific interest from the point of view of a promising medicinal and ornamental culture.

Within the framework of the section "Smart plant growing and forest-climatic projects", other Surgut residents also shared the results of their work, telling about the effectiveness of cultivating eastern goat as a sideral crop in the conditions of the north of the Tyumen region, about the content of tannins in the herb of St. John's wort, grown by the hydroponic method.

SurSU students Elena Kiseleva and Rukhshona Dadadzhanova see a way out of the problem of irrational disposal of industrial and household waste and significant damage to the ecology of the region in sorting garbage and building a regional waste recycling plant, as they told at the conference.

The Department of Foreign Languages has traditionally initiated the section "Russia in the Arctic Dialogue", the working language of which is English. "We consider the work of the section as preparing students and young scientists for international cooperation within the framework of the Association of circumpolar Universities UArctic, of which our university is a member, and their further participation in network scientific research on topics related to the pressing problems of the development of the Arctic region," the organizers said. The section presented reports on technical and humanitarian scientific areas related to the problems of the northern territories of Russia and the Arctic.

An important task for the moderators was the selection of young researchers to participate in the UArctic-2022 congress, which will be held in St. Petersburg in 2022. "We hope that caring young people will take advantage of this chance, declare themselves in the world of science and benefit their native northern region, including the Arctic," concluded Marina Stavruk, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages of SurSU.

The outcome of the two-day conference was a resolution that, among other things, confirmed the importance and necessity of creating joint educational programs on carbon monitoring and regulation, "green" technologies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A joint Russian-American scientific expedition NABOS-2021 has begun in the Arctic on the ship "Akademik Treshnikov".

On the night of September 11, a Russian-American marine expedition entered the Arctic, within the framework of which the participants intend to conduct research in the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and in the deep part of the Arctic Ocean.

"The scientific expedition vessel Akademik Treshnikov has left the Norwegian port of Kirkenes with an international group of scientists from Russia, the USA, Japan and Norway on board," the message says.

According to the organizers, one of the goals of the expedition is to study climate change in the Arctic.

The US President's Special Envoy on Climate Issues, John Kerry, expressed hope that the US and Russia will work closely on the climate agenda in the Arctic.
"According to my assessment, Russia's concern about the environmental situation in the Arctic is quite real and has a long-term character... I hope that we will work very, very closely with the leadership of Russia, because Russia is currently chairing the Arctic Council," Kerry said in an interview.

He recalled that he chaired the Arctic Council when he was US Secretary of State. According to him, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was an excellent partner in helping to try to do something about the Arctic: on black carbon, on electricity emissions, on fishing, on minerals.

John Kerry paid a visit to the Russian Federation from July 12 to 15, where he held talks on climate issues with Russian officials, in particular, with President Vladimir Putin - by phone, and with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation on climate issues Ruslan Edelgeriev - during meetings.

Members of the Russian FSB Border Guard Service and the US Coast Guard have carried out joint exercises patrolling the state border in the Bering Sea waters.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that this area is part of the Russian zone of interests

The Arctic is part of the Russian zone of interests, so the Russian Federation will not miss its influence on this territory. About it in interview to the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" said Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.

"This territory is the sphere of Russia's interests. We will not miss and will not give, " he said.

Earlier, the commander of the U.S. Navy in Europe and Africa Admiral James Foggo said that the Arctic should remain a free and open space, despite the fact that Russia considers its territory. In November 2018, the Chairman of the Committee of chiefs of staff of the us Armed forces, General Joseph Dunford, expressed the opinion that Russia is expanding its military presence in the Arctic, and the United States does not exclude the possibility of turning this region into a conflict zone in the future.

Moscow has consistently rejected the claims of Western politicians to increase its military presence in other regions and about any of its actions, which are allegedly aimed at violating international order.

Source: https://tass.ru/politika/6180313