Russia's engagement with foreign countries and businesses for the development of the NSR

In this chapter, the author analyses Russia’s interaction with foreign actors for the development of the NSR. The analysis reveals that, regardless of Russia’s ability to influence global affairs and promote its foreign policy guidelines, it must cooperate with foreign states and businesses since more than just national resources are needed to develop large Arctic projects. The situation of increased sanctions in the context of Ukraine is manifested in the constraints of the budget available for development due to increased security-related expenditure. Furthermore, another factor may be the continued instability in international energy and mineral resource markets due to the threat of secondary sanctions. It is, therefore, challenging to predict the future utilization of Russian hydrocarbons and mineral resources by countries that continue to trade with Russia due to national interests. Today, because of Western sanctions, Russia has limited access to critical industrial technologies and international shipping/port facilities. However, it manages to circumvent these with the help of domestic companies and friendly countries. Furthermore, this may be a challenge for the NSR project and could also be considered as an opportunity for future development.