Relationship dossier
Antarctica
Russia
Relationship assessment
Russia participates in treaty-based Antarctic governance and conducts scientific activities on the continent.
Antarctica toward Russia
Not assessedRussia toward Antarctica
+20Russia participates in the Antarctic Treaty System and conducts scientific research on the continent. These actions concern Antarctic governance and research rather than relations with an independent Antarctic government, which does not exist.
Overall relationship
Not assessedHow to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Antarctica has no independent government or foreign policy, so it does not conduct government-to-government policy toward Russia. Russia participates in the Antarctic Treaty System and maintains scientific activities on the continent. These arrangements provide a basis for cooperation in Antarctic governance and research, though they do not constitute a conventional bilateral relationship between two governments.
Key developments
The Soviet Union signed the Antarctic Treaty, which provides the framework for international cooperation and governance in Antarctica; Russia later continued as a treaty party.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and implementation of Russia’s Antarctic research and environmental commitments are unclear.
- Antarctica’s treaty-based governance does not provide for a single government to represent the continent in bilateral relations.