THE CONCEPT OF THE BERING STRAIT REGION

The author considers the use of the concept of the Bering Strait region in Russian and foreign scientific literature, the report of the Arctic Council «Assessment of marine shipping in the Arctic» 2009, the case study of the Bering Strait region, and international documents. It is necessary to distinguish the concept of the Bering Strait and the Bering Strait region. The Bering Strait is the strait that is used for international navigation, unites the Chukchi and Bering seas and separates the territories of Russian and the USA. Regarding the concept of «the Bering Strait region» there is no any unified approach to its definition. Some studies refer to the Bering Strait region as the region that includes the Bering Strait and land areas adjacent to the Bering Strait where indigenous peoples reside. In international documents the Bering Strait region is considered as the Bering Strait and protected areas in Chukotka autonomous district and the state of Alaska adjacent to the Bering Strait areas, which form a transboundary protected area. The author formulates her own definition of the mentioned concept.