Moscow Says Ready to Act If West Refuse to Cooperate in Barents Euro-Arctic Council

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - If the West is not prepared to have a constructive dialogue in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC), then Russia will take actions to guarantee its national interests, Sergey Belyaev, the head of the Russian foreign ministry's Second European Department, said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Russia's further participation in the BEAC directly depends on the readiness of Western countries to continue partnership on an equal basis with us. If we do not see this readiness, then all the necessary decisions will be taken to guarantee Russia's interests. I think our Western colleagues have already understood this by the example of some other structures, take, for example, the Council of the Baltic Sea States. At the same time, the existence of the BEAC without Russia, in fact, would lose all meaning," Belyaev said, commenting on whether the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will impact the BEAC.

If Sweden and Finland join NATO, then the only country in the BEAC that is not in the military bloc will be Russia, Belyaev said, adding that the current joint activities in the council are frozen.

The diplomat added that the BEAC has accumulated considerable experience of successful cooperation on climate, environmental protection, emergency response and many other issues. If the regional cooperation becomes fragmented or completely seizes to exist, it will have a negative impact on the development of the region.

BEAC was created in 1993 as a forum for cooperation in the Barents Region. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden as well as the European Commission are members of BEAC, while Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States have the status of observers.