BRICS Expansion: Implications for Logistics Cooperation in the Arctic

The article analyzes the prospects for Russia’s interaction with non-Arctic BRICS states in the Arctic. The purpose of the study is to determine how common the interests of the BRICS countries are in the field of logistics in the Arctic region and how likely cooperation is between them in this area, as well as what is the potential of the new BRICS member countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran) in this direction. It is shown that for Russia, China and India as the founding BRICS members, the spheres of logistics, development of transport links routes, routes, port infrastructure and cargo shipping are the most promising for circumpolar cooperation, as evidenced by the orientation of the regional strategies of China and India mainly on comercial and economic issues and problems of rational use of resources. At the same time, the analysis of the emerging polar agendas of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE also demonstrates their interest in developing cooperation in the field of logistics and cargo shipping, especially in the area of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the international transport corridor (ITC) ‘North–South’, which in the future may lead to the formation of a common interregional transport system within the framework of BRICS and may become a basis for the formation of the BRICS polar agenda in the future. The study was conducted using the theoretical and methodological framework of the theory of international regimes, which assumes the possibility of cooperation in certain areas in accordance with the interests of states, which can be observed in the case of the Arctic agenda between members of the same association.