Abstract
The maritime border between Russia and the United States runs directly through the Bering Strait, a narrow and shallow channel that is a critical corridor for Arctic marine species and subsistence hunting. As human activity in the Arctic increases, the Bering Strait is emerging as a maritime chokepoint, where a hostile state or nonstate actor could block access to or from the western Arctic by controlling the strait. In addition, increased traffic will pose a complicated management problem as navigational hazards, fragile ecology, and a variety of human uses must be balanced—by the two neighboring superpowers. This chapter will trace the contours of US-Russian relations in the Bering region and provide an introduction to this unique geopolitical arena.
This chapter reflects the author’s own views and not the official position of the US Naval War College or US Navy.
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Pincus, R. (2020). The History of USA-Russia Relations in the Bering Strait. In: Coates, K.S., Holroyd, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20557-7_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20557-7_21
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