How has cooperation in the Arctic survived Western-Russian geopolitical tension?

With two strokes of a pen followed by rapturous applause from the Kremlin audience, Russia formally annexed Crimea on March 18, 2014. At the time, the annexation marked the nadir of Russian-Western post-Cold War relations as Russia mobilized its military assets to annex the peninsula from Ukraine, distorting international law and conventions that had been in place since 1945. Two and a half years on from Crimea’s annexation, and it is fair to say that rather than marking the nadir of Western-Russian relations, this day was another point of continuing decline, which has been exacerbated further by disagreements following Russian intervention in Syria, and allegations of meddling in U.S. elections.