ABSTRACT

The Barents Sea has been closely associated with the Kola Penninsula and the Soviet ballistic missile submarine fleet. This is based primarily at Polyarny and Murmansk and is controlled from Severomorsk, located together on the Tuloma River. On 11 January 1993, a declaration was signed by Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and the EU to establish the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC). The priority areas were identified as: environment, economic development and infrastructure, science and technology, education, culture, tourism and the welfare of native peoples. However, it does not cover co-operation at sea in fisheries and resource extraction as long as the NorwayRussian maritime boundary remains undelimited. This was the only active territorial dispute between the countries of NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. With the end of the Cold War, concerns over the Barents Sea have been transformed and there is a far higher degree of co-operation between all the parties concerned.