Les relations entre l’Europe du Nord et la Russie post-soviétique à travers le prisme de la conservation de la nature

Taking a critical geopolitical approach, this article shows how Europe has been mobilized as a geographical object for thinking about and putting into practice transnational environmental conservation between Finland, Norway and Russia since the end of the Cold War. This study contributes to the literature on critical geopolitics and environmental governance by examining the intersection of conservation and international relations in post-Soviet Europe. It engages with scholarship on geopolitical imaginaries, which conceptualize how social constructed spatial entities such as Europe are mobilized for thinking about and putting into practice international relations. The article builds on existing research on transboundary conservation, European integration, and the role of environmental initiatives in shaping geopolitical narratives. By exploring how conservation efforts are used in international relations, this research adds to debates on the instrumentalization of environmental governance within broader geopolitical frameworks.Methodologically, this study employs a qualitative approach, combining documentary research with in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The documentary analysis includes official policy documents, reports, and promotional materials related to the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF). The study also draws on forty interviews with policymakers, conservationists, and local stakeholders across Finland, Norway, and Russia. These interviews explore perceptions of the GBF’s role in transnational governance and its function within European-Russian relations. A thematic analysis of the collected data enables a nuanced understanding of how conservation initiatives are framed and mobilized in different political and institutional contexts.This article illustrates how the relationship between the European Union and Russia is not the work of two monolithic blocs motivated solely by their interest in power, but that it operates through diverse channels and responds to the subjectivities of the actors who make it up at local level. Firstly, it shows how the development of the green belt was linked to the idea of spreading the values of the European project in post-Soviet Russia. Secondly, it explains how transnational environmental conservation is organized and actually operates at local level through decentralized actors.