RUSSIA AND ITS NEIGHBORS
6. RUSSIA-USA: THE CHUKOTKA-ALASKA CONNECTION
By Wayne Allensworth
Since the election of oligarch Roman Abramovich as Chukotka's governor, both Alaskan and Russian officials have hailed the beginning of a new era in relations between the two adjacent far north territories, separated only by the narrow Bering Strait. Both sides have pushed initiatives on environmental protection, travel, and cultural exchange, while business contacts were established at an Alaska-Chukotka "Summit" last summer in Nome.
Alaska views its relations with Chukotka as part of an overall strategy of opening up for commerce Russia's resource-rich Far North and Far East. Abramovich too, despite his claims to the contrary, may well see Chukotka as his window on the West. The oil and aluminum magnate is probably among those Russian oligarchs who see the USA as a potential market for oil exports as well as a source of investment for extraction operations, operations that are especially expensive in Russia's remote Arctic regions. Washington's "war on terrorism" has also given Russia hopes of displacing OPEC countries in the American oil market. If the USA does in fact become a steady consumer of Russian oil, then Chukotka could be well placed to act as a transit point between the two countries, especially if Abramovich's oil exploration projects are successful.
Abramovich's inauguration as Chukotka governor in January 2001 was attended by many Alaskan officials with whom he had cultivated ties during his tenure as Chukotka's representative in the Duma. Abramovich has frequently visited Alaska, both before and since his election as governor, and has worked to reduce red tape impeding cultural contact (especially between the related indigenous peoples of the two regions), travel, and the supply of humanitarian aid from Alaska to remote and poverty-stricken Chukotka. His election as Chukotka governor was hailed in Alaska as a new beginning for relations between the two territories: one Alaskan familiar with Alaska-Chukotka relations said: "Chukotka actually has a governor who wants ties with Alaska… The last governor wanted to slam the door shut." (1)
At the June 2002 Alaska-Chukotka "Summit," Abramovich and his American counterpart, Tony Knowles, signed a "blueprint" for developing mutual relations. The document included provisions for establishing regular air travel between Nome and Anadyr, the Chukotka capital, direct postal and parcel service, and promoting exchanges in education, health care, native affairs, science, economic development, and environmental protection. The two governors also agreed to work towards streamlining the visa process and expanding visa-free travel to include exchange students and more indigenous people from both sides of the Bering Strait. (2)
The Russian magnate's newfound American friends clearly saw the election of the enthusiastic, cooperative, and young Abramovich -- he is in his mid-thirties -- as an opening for commerce. Thus in spring 2001 Nome mayor Leo Rasmussen warned that "if we don't take advantage of the opportunity we have now someone else will step in." (3) The Alaskans see Chukotka, with its diamonds, gold, oil and gas, as well as fishing grounds and potential for "extreme" tourism, as in need of a staging area for economic development projects. Moreover, they apparently view the opening to Chukotka as part of an economic strategy to find markets for Alaska-produced goods and services in Russia's Far North and Far East. (4)
Beyond the natural desire of an elected regional leader to cultivate ties with a rich neighbor, Abramovich's motives and aims are less clear. When he ran for governor in December 2000, Russian media were full of puzzled speculation. Why should this super-rich magnate -- boss of Sibneft, one of Russia's largest oil companies, and a partner with fellow oligarch Oleg Deripaska in "Russian Aluminum," reportedly the second largest producer of aluminum products in the world -- want to become governor of one of Russia's poorest and most remote regions? As observers pointed out, Chukotka has lost about half its population in recent years as residents fled its harsh climate and grinding poverty, while the prohibitive cost of extracting and transporting the region's permafrost-bound oil, gas, gold, and other mineral wealth makes any economic development plans "Roma" may have a losing proposition, with or without help from Alaska. Even with Alaskan humanitarian aid and help in rebuilding the region's collapsing infrastructure, Chukotka was destined to remain as forbidding and as dependent on outside aid as ever. (5)
Abramovich himself says he views Chukotka as an interesting project: he is there to help solve the benighted region's problems, as his campaign slogan put it, "seriously and for a long time." (6) Abramovich was reportedly appalled by the poverty of Chukotka when he first visited the region, and some Russians, especially those Chukota residents who have benefited from his largesse -- Abramovich has, among other things, paid off wage arrears and arranged summer vacations for the region's children -- have come to see "Roma" as a philanthropist, perhaps influenced by his own difficult childhood. (Abramovich was orphaned at a young age. It is said that he was raised by an uncle. (7))
Many commentators have claimed that Abramovich hopes to use the Chukotka governor's post as an opening into "big politics": perhaps he sees himself as a future prime minister or even presidential candidate. Surely his cross-border contacts are valuable foreign policy experience for a novice politician.
The answer to the puzzle of Abramovich's Chukotka project and his keen interest in contacts with Alaska may lie in Russia's recent efforts to present itself as a potential supplier of oil and gas to the West, especially the USA. Since September 11 President Putin has radically shifted the Kremlin's foreign policy priorities. While pledging to cooperate in Washington's "war on terrorism," he fishes for foreign investment and foreign markets for Russian oil and gas, casting Russia as a reliable alternative to the OPEC countries. Washington has been receptive: at last May's summit meeting President Bush promised to seek American investment for Russia's fuel and energy complex. (8) Moreover, US Energy Department Secretary Spencer Abraham recently visited with his Russian counterpart, Igor Yusufov, an Abramovich ally, in Moscow, and promised to help fund geological research in East Siberia and on the Arctic Shelf and offering technical assistance to create strategic oil reserves in Russia. (9)
The influential Moscow daily Nezavisimaya gazeta surmised that the "first tanker of Russian crude" had whetted Washington's appetite for Russian energy resources. Perhaps not coincidentally, that first tanker of Russian crude making its appearance at an American port this summer was sent by Abramovich's partner in oil and gas exploration in Chukotka, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of the Yukos oil company and a strong proponent of seeking American markets for Russian petroleum. According to one oil and gas industry source, Chukotka is believed to hold hydrocarbon reserves within a geological structure similar to that of Alaska's North Slope. (10) Exploratory drilling reportedly began last summer.
The prospects for exploiting Chukotka's oil and gas fields are seriously hampered by Russia's lack of modern technology. But American technical aid and investment in infrastructure could make such exploitation profitable. And American firms, with their experience in natural resource extraction under extreme conditions in Alaska, could provide the needed financial and technological boost for Chukotka. Moreover, as Profil magazine pointed out, if "Roma"'s Chukotka project works out he will be the only one at the narrow crossing to the USA across the Bering Strait. Thus Abramovich may view Alaska as his window on the West, while Alaskan officials and American firms appear to be eyeing Chukotka as a potential Russian Klondike, one that Russia cannot effectively exploit without their help.
NOTES
(1) Anchorage Daily News, 16 October 2001. Abramovich's predecessor as governor was Alexander Nazarov.
(2) From the Alaska governor's web site: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/press/01144.html.
(3) The Nome Nugget (25 April, 2001).
(4) See, for instance, Alaska Lt Governor Fran Ulmer's speech at last year's "Summit" (http://www.gov.state.ak.us/ltgov/speech/2001/Chukotka/Chukotka.htm).
(5) See, for example, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 18 November 2000; Izvestiya, 18 January 2001; Moskovskiy Komsomolets, 31 March 2001; Obshchaya Gazeta, No. 35, 30 August 2001.
(6) Moskovskiy Komsomolets, 15 May, 2001. The slogan was an allusion to Lenin's statement that the New Economic Policy introduced in 1921 was meant "seriously and for a long time."
(7) Izvestiya, 18 January 2001.
(8) Kommersant, 25 May 2002.
(9) Opec.ru, 6 August 2002; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 2 August 2002.
(10) http://www.oilandgasinternational.com/departments/geosciences/yukos.html
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