The power of Russia will grow not only by Siberia, but also by the North

• 1.    M.V. Lomonosov, whose anniversary Russia celebrated in 2011, said that "Russian power will grow with the help of Siberia and the Northern Ocean, and reaches to the main European settlements in Asia and in America." (From the "Short description of the different trips to the northern seas and indications of possible passage of the Siberian Ocean to East India," 1763.) How do you understand these words of the first Russian academician?

• 2.    Who will better decide the future of the Arctic – the military, diplomats or scientists? I think the future of the Arctic can be solved only the course of the history, in which, as always, everything is intertwined and interdependent. Each of these professional groups (military, diplomats, academics) vision problems in the Arctic, its logic, its own truth. But deep synthetic reflection on the problems in the Arctic will be largely, of course, the scientific community, because this is one of the grounds of their institutional. It would be nice if the constructive results of this reflection at least in some degree have been claimed by politicians. On the other hand, would be bad if scientists will embrace "tongues" and the rules of nonscientific world.

• 3.    What associations do you have about the Arctic, the North?

• 4.    Your wishes, suggestions to a new journal «Arctic and North».

The thought of M.V. Lomonosov about the growing of Russian power with the help of Siberia and the Northern Ocean, I think, clearly reflects the reorganization undertaken by Peter I of Russia's "geography of power." In pre-Peters times’ spatial sense theory of Russian statehood asked Philo-theus "Moscow - the Third Rome," reviving the meridional construct 'South - North. «However, Peter I put at the heart of east-west contrast of the East and the West. That's according to Lomonosov, Russia more European dissolve itself in the East than likely "to reach major European settlements in Asia and in America," will be more powerful. I think that the "North" in this sense it is perceived by Lomonosov as a sea route to the East, but because the North is not so much target Russia, but only a means toward power. I think they underestimate the work of the context in which it was placed by our great countryman. In my opinion, today is quite common in institutionalized, including Lomonosov, who was with a light hand look at the North as a kind of "gateway" to the Arctic, a kind of a transport corridor from West to East. It is no accident that Lomonosov wrote not about the North as part of the continent, and the "Northern Ocean." In my opinion, the modern experience of history can broaden the scope of this presentation: The North - is not only waters around the continental "backyard" of Eurasia, but also one of the world poles of attraction, one of the supporting structures of the global "balance of power." To paraphrase Lomonosov in the twenty-first century, perhaps we could say: "The Russian power will grow not only with Siberia, but with the North."

Associations can be different like emotions and mood. But the most stable among them, in my mind connects with the North with the image of the home, the motherland, the nearest place in the world.

I wish the new edition to turn into the factor of development of Russia in the Arctic.