Joint Statement by Seven Arctic States on
Limited Resumption of Arctic Council Cooperation (8 June 2022)
Following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine which began on 24 February 2022, seven member
states of the Arctic Council 1, a forum that is currently chaired by Russia, issued a joint statement 2 on 3 March2022 in which not only they condemned said invasion per se, they also noted that Russia’s actions have caused
grave impediments to international cooperation including in the Arctic. Highlighting on the enduring value ofthe Arctic Council for circumpolar cooperation, the seven states reiterated their support for the Council and itswork, and their own responsibility to the people of the Arctic, including the indigenous peoples, who contributeto and benefit from the important work undertaken in the Council. They also emphasized on the core principles
of sovereignty and territorial integrity based on international law that have long underpinned the work of theArctic Council. As such, the seven states will refrain from sending their representatives to Russia for meetingsof the Arctic Council due to Russia’s flagrant violation of the aforementioned international law principles,
temporarily pausing participation in all meetings of the Council and its subsidiary bodies, pending considerationof the necessary modalities that can allow them to continue the Council’s work in view of the current
circumstances.
Subsequently, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, on 14 March 2022, announced ina discussion 3 that despite the above decision of the seven states, Russia will continue discussion of the current
agenda of the Arctic territories in the northern latitudes as part of the upcoming events of the Russianchairmanship of the Arctic Council. In addition, all events of the Russian chairmanship, except for official
meetings of the Arctic Council and its subsidiary bodies, are planned to be held in accordance with the approvedschedule. In regards to the suspension of interaction with other member states of the Council, the Russianchairmanship will be reoriented to address national issues of developing its northern territories.
More recently, on 8 June 2022, the aforesaid seven states issued another statement 4 concerning theresumption of the Arctic Council cooperation in a limited fashion. The statement asserts that such resumption isbased on the examination of the modalities conducted by the representatives from the seven states to allow a
resumption of the work in the Arctic Council. Restating the enduring value of the Arctic Council for circumpolar
cooperation and particularly the important projects approved by all eight Arctic States at the Reykjavik
ministerial, the seven states expressed intention to implement a limited resumption of their work in the Arctic
Council, in projects that do not involve the participation of the Russian Federation. The statement consequently
reads that the seven states will continue to examine additional modalities to allow them to further continue theCouncil’s important work.
The above developments suggest that the work of Arctic Council and its projects will in fact be
implemented concurrently by the seven Arctic states amongst themselves on one side, and by Russia within its
territory on the other.
Dr. Zia Madani, ArCS II Research Collaborator/Kobe PCRC Senior Research Fellow

These seven member states are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States.
https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-arctic-council-cooperation-following-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/3
https://mid.ru/ru/detail-material-page/1804009/ (in Russian)
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https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-limited-resumption-of-arctic-council-cooperation/
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