Russia’s speaker asks parliament to rescind Norway sea treaty

The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament has asked to rescind a sea treaty that establishes the country’s maritime border with Norway.

Speaking to the parliament, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin asked the head of the chamber’s international affairs committee to scrap the treaty, as Norway has been blocking food deliveries destined for Russian-populated settlements on the Svalbard archipelago.

The treaty was signed in 2010, aiming to put an end to disputes between Russia and Norway in the Barents Sea, the part of the Arctic Ocean adjoining the northern coasts of Norway and Russia.