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The legal status of the Northern Sea Route

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Leonid Timtchenko
Leonid Timtchenko
Affiliation:
ul. Gv. Shironintsev-40, kv. 184, 310 123 Kharkov, Ukraine
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Abstract

For a long period the Northern Sea Route was considered by the Soviet Union as a national seaway closed to foreign shipping. In 1987 Mikhail Gorbachev announced his intention to open the Northern Sea Route for international navigation. In the following years a number of acts were adopted to realise this idea. These documents clarified to a great extent the attitude of the USSR to the sector concept, historic waters, and other aspects of the northern seas. Nevertheless, some uncertainties in the legal status of the Northern Sea Route remain. This article focuses on the doctrinal views, state practice of the USSR and Russia, and prospects of internationalisation of the Northern Sea Route on the basis of international convention.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 30 , Issue 174 , July 1994 , pp. 193 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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