Russia ratified border deal with Norway
The Russian State Duma today ratified a treaty with Norway over the delineation of disputed areas in Varanger fjord in the Barents Sea. The deal was signed by the two countries in July last year.
The areas included in the deal are located to the south of the bigger 155,000 square meter Disputed Zone between the two countries. Negotiations over the Disputed Zone have been going on since the early 1970s. The Varanger Fjord deal might signal that the two countries now are taking efforts to compromise on the huge and strategically important area. The Disputed Zone is expected to contain major amounts of hydrocarbons. The Norwegian initiative on the establishment of an industrial and economic zone in the two countries borderlands are meant also to facilitate the joint development of the Norwegian-Russian Barents Sea.
