Arctic policy of the European Union in 1973 and Sweden and Finland in 1995). The European Union's application to become a “permanent observer” in the Arctic Council was blocked in 2009 by Canada in response to the European Union's ban on the importation of seal products. The Arctic is an area of growing strategic importance. The European Union supports the successful Arctic co-operation and in helping to meet the challenges that now confront the region. The European Union is the world's strongest proponent of greater international efforts to fight climate change. It has three (and if the accession of Iceland to the European Union occurs, potentially
Russian Arctic islands Russian Arctic islands The Russian Arctic islands are a number of islands groups and sole islands scattered around the Arctic Ocean. The islands are all situated within the Arctic Circle and are scattered through the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, namely, the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea. The area extends some from Karelia in the west to the Chukchi Peninsula in the east. The largest of the Arctic islands is Severny Island, with an area of about . It is Russia's second largest island next to Sakhalin Island, and the