This book offers a comprehensive assessment of Russia's strategy in the ARctic. It investigates the multiple facets making Arctic questions a revelatory prism through which to view Russia's currrent changes and future challenges, and attempts to assemble them together into a coherent whole. -- From the introduction.

Russia's Arctic policy and the interplay of domestic and international. Discursive production and decision-making mechanisms -- Russia's decision making regarding Arctic affairs -- The Arctic as a flagship for Putin-style statehood -- An internationally recognized "brand" for Russia -- The Arctic, a soft power tool for bilateral relations? -- A territory or an identity? The Far North in Russia's statehood. The imperial and Soviet memory of the Arctic -- What administrative status for Arctic regions? -- Indigenous peoples as marginalized stakeholders? -- The nationalist reading of the Arctic: Russia's new Lebensraum -- Russia's spatial and demographic challenges. Archipelago Russia : a fragmented territory -- Russia's demographic puzzle -- Evolving patterns of Arctic demography and mobility -- Is migration the future of the Arctic workforce? -- Climate change and its expected impact on Russia. Framing climate change debates -- Climate change in the Arctic -- Climate change in the Russian Federation -- Calculating the impact of climate change on the Russian economy -- Russia's domestic actors on climate change -- Russia's hesitant climate change policy -- The Russian stance on Arctic territorial conflicts. The Soviet historical referent: the 1926 decree -- Russian claims on the Arctic continental shelf -- The Russian-U.S. agreement on the Bering and Chukchi seas -- The issue of the Barents Sea issue and its solution -- The dispute over the Svalbard/Spitsenberg Archipelago -- Projecting military power in the Arctic. The Russian army still lost in transition -- Upgrading the Northern Fleet and the nuclear deterrence -- Russia's renewed military activism in the Arctic -- Resource nationalism vs. patterns of cooperation. Beyond the metrics of the "Arctic bonanza" -- Russia's oil and gas strategies in the Arctic -- The costs and risks of an Arctic-based energy -- Foreign actors and the Russian state: competition or cooperation? -- The Arctic as a mineral Eldorado? -- Hopes for reviving the fishing industry -- Unlocking the Arctic? Shipping along the Northern Sea Route -- Sovereignty issues in the Russian straits -- Hopes for an international trade lane via the NSR -- Ice without hype: the harsh realities of Arctic shipping -- A more realistic future: NSR as a domestic/destination route -- Modernizing the fleet and the shipyard sector -- Conclusion.