Bering Strait Cooperation and Conflict Discussed at Arctic Encounter Summit

Margaret Williams, Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf, John Holdren, Steve White, and Abby Tingstad at a panel on the Bering Strait at Arctic Encounter Summit 2025. — From left to right: Margaret Williams, Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf, John Holdren, Steve White, and Abbie Tingstad at the panel session "Bering Strait Cooperation and Conflict" at Arctic Encounter Summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday, July 31, 2025.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the China–Russia alliance in shipping, oil extraction, and military maneuvers has heightened geopolitical tensions in America’s Arctic waters. At the same time, climate change and increasing vessel traffic through the Bering Strait call for greater vigilance, accident prevention, and stewardship.

At Arctic Encounter 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska, the Arctic Initiative brought together a multi-disciplinary group of experts to discuss recent physical, biological, commercial, and military activities in this narrow trans-boundary waterway, offer potential solutions, and invite audience perspectives. Panelists included John Holdren, Arctic Initiative Co-Chair; Abbie Tingstad, Arctic Research Professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's Center for Arctic Study and Policy; Captain Steve White, President of the Marine Exchange of Alaska, and Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf, Executive Director of the Eskimo Walrus Commission. Arctic Initiative Senior Fellow Margaret Williams moderated.

Listen to KNBA's coverage of the session

Key Discussion Points:

Despite current tensions, people-to-people connections are vitally important to maintain in the Bering Strait region, particularly because many residents share strong family ties between Alaska and Chukotka, Russia.
Environmental changes in the Bering Strait illustrate Arctic-wide trends: longer ice-free seasons and loss of the protective sea ice cover mean the shoreline is vulnerable to intense storms. As a result, the region’s coastal communities are experiencing severe erosion. Other changes in the marine ecosystem, including smaller sizes of forage fish, are reverberating throughout the Arctic food web.
The numbers of ships using the Bering Strait has more than doubled in the last decade, and the season shipping is lengthening. More maritime vessel traffic means increased risk to the marine environment, but a big challenge is that agencies and organizations are currently too “stovepiped” and do not work collectively to manage this growing risk.
Military presence in the Arctic and through the Bering Strait is not new, but the deteriorating relationships between Western Arctic countries and Russia heighten tensions around Russian military in the vicinity of the Bering Strait.
What is quite new is the occasional appearance of Chinese Coast Guard and naval vessels both with Russian forces and on their own in the Bering Sea, which has been interpreted both as a demonstration of ability to expand presence in northern waters and to conduct freedom of navigation operations.