Putin signs maritime border treaty with Norway into law
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MOSCOW, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - President of Russia has signed a federal law on ratification of a maritime boundary treaty with Norway, on Monday, the press service of the Kremlin said. The Treaty on the Delimitation of the disputed areas of the border in the region of Varanger fjord of the Barents Sea was adopted in July 2007 and submitted to the Duma by President Vladimir Putin. The old agreement on the fjord Varanger, signed in 1957, on the inner part of the fjord, while the new agreement on the external border. The Federation Council, the House of Lords, part of the Russian parliament, ratified the treaty, on March 19. Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Second Division of the Committee on International Affairs, said that under the treaty, “Russia get added value to 26 km from the sea in the area.” In response to an MP’s question whether the new treaty would contribute to the resolution of disputes fishing sporadically in the region between Russia and Norway, Yuly Kvitsinsky, first deputy head of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said the contract will not apply to fishing. The agreement could lead to a final settlement on the division of 155000 sq km Russian-Norwegian controversial in the area, presumably to significant oil and gas reserves. The fjord Varanger falls outside that zone. Norway and Russia, negotiations on the delimitation of the controversy since the 1970’s. The Varanger fjord in the region of eastern Finnmark, Norway fjord. It is located about 100 km long. |