Assessing Russian Intentions in the Arctic

With the exception of a few uncertain years following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has been an implacable foe of the United States and its Western allies for the past eighty years. Since at least 2007, when Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his much-discussed critique of the U.S.-led international order at the Munich Security Conference, the organizing principles of Russian foreign policy have been to undermine the credibility of the United States, destabilize its neighboring countries, and prevent the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – or the European Union – from expanding further eastward.