FSB signs maritime security cooperation with China in Murmansk
The memorandum signed in Murmansk opens for cooperation in law enforcement at
sea, regional and federal media reports on Monday.
Under the new agreement, the two countries highlight joint
efforts to combat terrorism, illegal migration, fighting smuggling of drugs and
weapons, as well as stopping illegal fishing, Head of FSB Border Guard Service,
Vladimir Kulishov, said to Vesti,
the TV news by GTRK Murman.
He explained that Russia had to find new partners as the coast
guard cooperation with the seven other Arctic nations is halted.
The Arctic Coast Guard Forum, currently chaired by Russia, had a
plan to conduct a joint multilateral maritime exercise this year. With no
participants from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Canada and USA,
the FSB decided to invite China as an observer, Kulishov said. The
exercise takes place out of Murmansk on Tuesday.
Next step will be for China to participate in future exercises.
In a statement recorded by the Defense Ministry’s TV channel Zvezda, the FSB
commander added that joint exercises with the Chinese Coast
Guard, stipulated in the memorandum, will take place in the near future.
“I’m sure that our cooperation will only be strengthened,” Kulishov said.
Research Professor Elana Wilson Rowe with the Norwegian
Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) is not surprised by the presence of
Chinese Coast Guard officials in Murmansk “given today’s geopolitical
environment.”
She says the memorandum demonstrates the seriousness of
Russian-Chinese cooperation.
“It is noteworthy that the Russian Coast Guard is organized
under the Federal Security Services and a shared memorandum does demonstrate a
level of seriousness in flagging the potential of Russia and China’s
cooperation in the soft security/security sphere,” she says to the Barents
Observer.
“The devil will be in the details,” she underlines and adds.
“Capacity building on environmental security-related issues via shared
table-top exercises would have a different optic and require different degrees
of coordination than a major joint exercise.”
“Observers were shocked and concerned about the US Coast Guard’s
discovery of Russian and Chinese navy vessels appearing
together off the coast of Alaska last year. Although the
status and remit of the Coast Guard differs, more cooperation in this sphere
does provide an added data point suggesting that Russian skepticism towards
cooperating with China in the security or soft security spheres is fading,”
Elana Wilson Rowe says.
Near-Arctic state
China has declared itself as a ‘near-Arctic’ state, and public
statements have made it clear that the country intends to push for a greater
role in Arctic governance.
Several voyages with scientists are conducted with the research
icebreaker “Snow
Dragon”, but for now there have been few signs of China trying to
enter the Arctic with security hardware like navy vessels or coast guard
personnel.
China’s Polar Research
Institute’s maritime base in Shanghai has the Yellow River Arctic research
station at Ny-Ålesund marked. Research icebreaker “Snow Dragon” in the
background. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
In 2019, the Chief of Norway’s Intelligence Service said “we
must be prepared for clearer Chinese presence in our neighbourhood.”
The statement came after the Chinese navy Commander visited the Russian
Northern Fleet’s Headquarters in Severomorsk on Russia’s Navy
Day the year before.
When Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow
last month, the two talked Arctic cooperation and
highlighted energy, technology and infrastructure as key issues.
Also, cooperation on shipping along the Northern Sea Route was
outlined at the meeting.
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