Prologue: A Southern Perspective

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 will focus the thoughts of Antarctic observers, policy-makers, and scholars on the short- and longterm fallout from the dramatic actions of one of the original signatories to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. As I write this prologue, the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting is coming to a close in Berlin. Both Russia and Ukraine, as Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties, participated in the meeting. Russia’s invasion prompted an unprecedented démarche and walkout by twenty-five countries during an address to the meeting by the representative of Russia.