Leader of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament), Vyacheslav Volodin, has asked the Foreign Affairs Committee of the parliament to consider the dividing line agreement between Norway and Russia. The question is whether the border agreement between Norway and Russia should be terminated or suspended in the meantime. It reports the Russian news agency Ria. Member of Parliament Mikhail Matvejev from the Russian Communist Party tells RIA that Norway gained 175 square kilometers of the Barents Sea through the dividing line agreement. According to Matvejev, the purpose was for the agreement to have a positive effect on cooperation between the Arctic countries. – Now we see that Norway prevents shipments of food to our residents on Svalbard, says Matvejev. news has been in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which states that they are investigating the case further. Historical agreement at stake After 40 years of negotiations, Russia and Norway in 2019 agreed on a compromise around the dividing line in the Barents Sea. The disputed sea area in the Barents Sea was divided into two in approximately equal parts. The area is 1750,000 square kilometers, and contains great values. The dividing line negotiations The disputed area that has now been agreed upon constitutes 12 per cent of the Barents Sea. The 176,000 square kilometers cover an area corresponding to Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands combined. Here is a chronology of important events in the long dividing line negotiations. 1957: Norway and the Soviet Union clarify the border for the territorial waters in the Inner Varangerfjord. 1970: The first dividing line negotiations begin. Norway and the Soviet Union do not deviate from the starting points in the years to come: Norway wants the midline principle to apply. The Soviet Union stands on the sector line principle. 1975: Agreement on a moratorium banning exploration and production of oil and gas in the disputed area. The Russians will later lift the moratorium and map the resources before the border is drawn. Rejected by Norway. 1976: Norway calls for negotiations on temporary arrangements for fishing in the Barents Sea. 1977: Norway expands its economic zone to 200 nautical miles. 1978: January 1: The Gray Zone Agreement enters into force. It regulates fishing in an area of 60,000 square kilometers. The agreement has since been renewed every single year. 1982: The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is negotiated. The “Constitution of the Sea” states that coastal states have the right to establish territorial waters of 12 nautical miles, and an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles. 1984: The Soviet Union expands its economic zone to 200 nautical miles. 1986: Norway ratifies the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. 1988: Gro Harlem Brundtland and Russian Prime Minister Nikolai Ryshkov agree to draw a line between the center line and the sector line. Ryshkov states that the dividing line problem would be solved if Norway and Russia agreed on joint utilization of the resources. 1991: The Soviet Union is dissolved. Negotiations are crumbling. 1995: During his visit to Oslo, Boris Yeltsin links the question of a petroleum cooperation to the dividing line negotiations. 1997: Russia accedes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. 2002: November 12: Kjell Magne Bondevik and Vladimir Putin agree in Moscow on a joint declaration in which they will strengthen fisheries cooperation, and work for petroleum cooperation in the area to be delimited in the Barents Sea. 2005: June 20: In a meeting in Moscow with Bondevik, President Vladimir Putin declares that “Russia and Norway are facing a strategic partnership in the petroleum field” 2005: December 5: Negotiations resume. 2007: June 8: Prime Ministers Jens Stoltenberg and Mikhail Fradkov announce agreement on a 70-kilometer dividing line in the outer parts of the Varangerfjord. 2007: October 26: StatoilHydro acquires 24 percent ownership in the operating company that will expand the huge Stockman field in the Russian sector. French Total is the second foreign Gazprom partner. 2010: April 27: Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and President Dmitry Medvedev announce a compromise on the dividing line in the Barents Sea during Medvedev’s state visit to Norway.
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Russia expresses doubts about historic border agreement – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
