Controversial Politician to Lead Russia’s new Arctic Commission

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin is appointed Head of the new Russian state commission for Arctic development. 

This is reported by the news agency TASS today.

Dmitry Rogozin has been Deputy Prime Minister in charge of defense and space industry since 2011. Earlier he was Russia’s ambassador to NATO, serving from January 2008 until December 2011.

Rogozin was one of the first seven persons who were put under executive sanctions by U.S. President Barack Obama, due to the Crimean crisis.

The sanctions freezed his assets in the United States, and also banned him from entering the country. Rogozin was later also added to the Canadian and EU sanction list.

The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a provision on the state commission on Arctic development issues, and approved its composition

The commission is supposed to “organize interaction of federal, regional bodies of executive power, local self-government bodies, other state bodies and organizations when resolving social and economic tasks to develop the Russian Federation’s Arctic zone and ensure national security,".

According to TASS the Russian president signed a decree on the state commission on Arctic development already on February 3, 2015.