Presidential Decree No. 645 validating the Strategy of the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Ensuring National Security for the period until 2035.

This Strategy is a strategic planning document in the field of ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation, developed in order to implement the Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic for the period until 2035 and defining measures aimed to fulfill the main tasks of developing the Arctic zone and ensuring national security, as well as the stages and expected results of the implementation of these measures.
The features of the Arctic zone, which determine special approaches to its socio-economic development and ensuring national security in the Arctic, are as follows: (a) extreme natural and climatic conditions, extremely low population density and the level of development of transport and social infrastructure; (b) high sensitivity of ecological systems to external influences, especially in places where small indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation live; (c) climate change, which contributes to the emergence of both new economic opportunities and risks for economic activity and the environment; (d) stable geographical, historical and economic connections with the Northern Sea Route; (e) uneven industrial and economic development of certain territories of the Arctic zone, the focus of the economy on the extraction of natural resources, their export to industrialized subjects of the Russian Federation and export; (f) high resource intensity of economic activity and livelihoods of the population, their dependence on supplies of fuel, food and other vital goods from various constituent entities of the Russian Federation; and (g) growth of conflict potential in the Arctic.
The scope of implementing this Strategy is to ensure the national interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic zone, as well as to achieve the goals defined in the Fundamentals of State Policy in the Arctic.
The fulfillment of the main tasks in the field of social development of the Arctic zone is ensured by implementing the following measures: (a) eliminating the negative consequences for the environment of economic and other human activities, risks of harm to public health caused by climate change, studying and assessing the impact of such changes on the sources of occurrence and ways of spreading of infectious and parasitic diseases dependent on them; (b) ensuring the preservation and popularization of cultural heritage, the development of traditional culture, the preservation and development of languages of small indigenous peoples; and (c) creation of a system of state support for the delivery of fuel, food and other vital goods to settlements located in remote areas.
The fulfillment of the main tasks in the field of economic development of the Arctic zone is ensured through the implementation of the following measures: (a) providing state support to projects for the creation and (or) modernization of fish processing complexes, fish hatchery and greenhouse enterprises, livestock complexes; (b) development and implementation of legal and organizational measures to prevent illegal extraction and sale of marine biological resources, as well as to stimulate the sale of legally obtained marine biological resources; (c) development of a unified system of state environmental monitoring using modern information and communication technologies and communication systems; and (d) identification and analysis of risks of emergencies of a natural and man-made nature, development of ways to prevent such situations.
The implementation of this Strategy is carried out in three stages. At the first stage of implementation of this Strategy (in 2020 - 2024), it is envisaged: (a) approval of a program of state support for the traditional economic activities of small indigenous peoples; (b) development of technologies for preserving health and increasing life expectancy of the population of the Arctic zone; and (c) creation of a state system for monitoring and preventing the negative consequences of permafrost degradation.
At the second stage of implementation of this Strategy (in 2025 - 2030), it is envisaged: (a) ensuring year-round navigation throughout the entire water area of the Northern Sea Route; and (b) the beginning of the formation of the composition of the research fleet of the Russian Federation, necessary for carrying out complex scientific research in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean.
At the third stage of implementation of this Strategy (in 2031 - 2035), it is envisaged: (a) ensuring the availability of high-quality social services for people belonging to small peoples, and the intensive development of their traditional economic activities; and (b) completion of the implementation of the Program for the development of navigation in the river basins of the Arctic zone.