Rosa Chemeris: Russian Lawmaker Calls for Reassessment of Shevardnadze-Baker Bering Strait Delimitation Agreement

“Colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture will probably confirm that the next agreement will be on cooperation on the Bering Strait, concluded in 1990 between Shevardnadze and US Secretary of State James Baker,” Rosa Chemeris said at a State Duma meeting on Wednesday, responding to inquiries about potential denouncements of agreements with countries considered unfriendly to the Russian Federation, following the agreement with the United Kingdom regarding the Barents Sea.

The Shevardnadze-Baker Agreement delineates economic zones, the continental shelf in the Chukchi and Bering Seas, and territorial waters in a small region within the Bering Strait, spanning the islands of Ratmanov (Russia) and Kruzenshtern (USA).

Signed on June 1st, 1990, in Washington, the agreement awaits ratification from the Soviet and subsequently Russian authorities, existing provisionally per the terms established upon signing.

This suggestion comes in the wake of the recent denunciation of the 1956 agreement allowing British fishing vessels access to the Russian zone of the Barents Sea by the State Duma earlier on Wednesday, indicating a broader review of international agreements.