L’IMPATTO DEL CONFLITTO RUSSO-UCRAINO NELLA REGIONE ARTICA: Dalla crisi dell’eccezionalismo artico alla ridefinizione degli assetti di governance e di sicurezza

For over three decades, the Arctic region has stood out as a space of pragmatic cooperation between Russia and Western States, maintaining institutional stability despite broader geopolitical rivalries. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has profoundly disrupted this equilibrium, triggering the suspension of the Arctic Council’s activities and interrupting long-standing scientific and diplomatic collaboration. At the same time, Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO has reshaped the regional security architecture, further isolating Russia and accelerating a militarization process already underway. Moreover, the confl ict has intensifi ed the use of hybrid warfare tactics and heightened the strategic interests of non-Arctic powers, particularly China, introducing new variables into an increasingly complex regional framework. Against this backdrop, this study examines the Arctic not only as a paradigmatic case for assessing the geopolitical consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian war in a traditionally cooperative region but also, in a broader perspective, as a privileged laboratory for analyzing structural vulnerabilities exacerbated by the conflict and exploring potential strategies for their mitigation.