Under the ice: how the Russian-American dialogue can help in the development of the northern territories

At the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States in four years, not only the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine will be discussed. Western media are spreading the news about the Trump team's desire to reach an agreement with Moscow on joint extraction of rare earths, as well as cooperation in the field of resource development in the Arctic region. Why the American president needs a strategic partner in Russia and how cooperation between the two superpowers in this area can develop — in the Izvestia article.

Gold under the snow

According to The Daily Telegraph, during the face-to-face meeting of the Russian and American leaders in Anchorage, it is likely that Donald Trump will propose to Vladimir Putin a plan for joint extraction of rare earths in Alaska. In addition, the deal may include access to resources on Russian territories, as well as the lifting of some US sanctions in the aviation industry.

First of all, we are talking about the northern territories. Trump is aware of the value of cooperating with Russia in a potential rare earth deal. Alaska is a storehouse of valuable resources, the extraction of which is difficult due to the lack of technology and experience in drilling permafrost. By the way, the efforts of representatives of the Democratic Party have not been without their efforts: the left is actively promoting the green agenda, which at one time caused the suspension of the development of the region.

The publication also writes that Donald Trump is also considering the possibility of providing Russia with the use of valuable natural resources in the Bering Sea. Alaska, according to some estimates, has significant undiscovered oil and gas reserves. An expanded Russian presence in the strait would strengthen Moscow's strategic interests in the Arctic region, which accounted for 80% of the country's gas production in 2022.

In March, at the Arctic — Time for Dialogue forum, Vladimir Putin declared Russia's readiness to cooperate in the region. "We have advocated and are advocating equal cooperation in the region today, including scientific research, protection of biodiversity, climate issues, emergency response, and, of course, economic and industrial development of the Arctic. Moreover, we are ready to work together not only with the Arctic states, but with all those who, like us, share responsibility for a stable, sustainable future of the planet and are able to make balanced decisions designed for decades to come," the Russian president said.

Earlier, in February, the Russian leader proposed that the United States unite to extract rare earth metals. Trump, in turn, has repeatedly mentioned Russia's "wealth" in valuable resources.

American political scientist Malek Dudakov shared with Izvestia the opinion that if the Russian-American meeting in Alaska is successful and the "deal" is subsequently implemented, both countries will receive advantages. The United States will have the opportunity to successfully develop in the northern regions, and, according to the expert, some sanctions may well be lifted from the Russian Federation. In turn, Russia will have the opportunity to implement cooperation in the field of mining in the Arctic and Alaska.

The White House is actively looking for opportunities for cooperation in the region: not so long ago, Washington and Tokyo signed a $550 billion deal in which Japan promised to develop gas fields and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Alaska.

— I think that the United States will face obvious climatic difficulties in Alaska. <...> If we really see such joint projects, then, of course, we should expect the American side to ease sanctions, at least in the financial sector. In the future, sanctions may be eased in other areas, especially if we take, for example, the aviation industry, then there is a mutual interest here: for our country to return supplies of components for American Boeing, and for the American side, because the United States, as you know, bought, for example"a titan for the aviation industry in Russia," recalled Malek Dudakov.

An endless resource

The Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) is a region with huge economic and resource potential. 60% of all carbon reserves are concentrated here, which is approximately 250 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) and 35% of solid minerals (more than 9.5 billion tons). Territories, people, technologies — all this determines Russia's advantage in the region. The United States itself now has a big problem with both the icebreaking fleet and the development of deposits in "developed territories" within the country, for example, in Texas.

Industrial expert Leonid Khazanov is confident that the American leader wants to get rid of US dependence on Chinese imports of rare earths, as relations between these two world powers are strained. The shortage of minerals previously supplied from China caused a pause in the recent trade war. The current goal of the White House was to bring domestic production back to the country, and instead the American transport and aviation industry almost collapsed, the source points out.

— Donald Trump proceeds from the fact that the United States needs to get off the needle of importing "rare earths" from China, given the difficult political relations with Beijing and the difficulties in providing these resources within the United States: in 2024, about 45 thousand tons were mined in them, but only 1.3 thousand tons were obtained in pure form from ores. the rest was sold in China. In turn, about 8,000 tons of rare earth metals were imported from abroad to the United States, mainly from China. Such a situation, combined with the tightening of rare earth export conditions by the Chinese government, may negatively affect the American industry and the defense industry," the expert notes.

Leonid Khazanov also emphasized in an interview with Izvestia that due to the complicated trade and economic relations with China, the White House is looking for a sustainable economic partnership in a number of key areas, and Russia may well become such a partner. Among other things, Washington is attracted by Moscow's state-of-the-art technology.

— Russia has extensive experience in developing deposits in remote areas characterized by difficult mining and geological conditions and ore composition. Russia also has an unsurpassed school of mineral processing, which American engineers and chemists are far from reaching. Therefore, cooperation in the extraction and processing of rare earth raw materials is beneficial to the US authorities in terms of reducing dependence on supplies from China," the expert states.

The long game

Russian-American cooperation in the Arctic and Alaska will bring enormous economic benefits to the United States. With Trump coming to power, the old economic model began to return, according to which whoever has land or strong economic resources wins. According to rough estimates, we are talking about 13% of the world's oil reserves, 30% of gas, and more than half of all rare earths and precious metals — literally a gold mine. Hence, according to Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, there was talk of Greenland joining, uniting with Canada and Mexico, and so on.

— Trump's America seeks to "reclaim" the North American continent, its resource part, and this is a long game, — the expert is sure.

Russia, in this case, is a reliable and fossil-rich strategic partner for Trump.

Vladimir Vasiliev also emphasizes that the United States needs powerful capital resources to regulate issues in an economic region such as the Arctic. Today, according to the expert, Trump has his own idea of these processes, and he probably believes that the US position will be much stronger as a result of this cooperation.

— In order to exploit these resources, we need a long-term strategy, the implementation of which over time will be able to solve certain geopolitical problems. This is perhaps the most important thing today, which determines the position of the United States. In general, it follows from the general historical trend of America's development," the expert concluded.