The Barents Observer
Championing freedom of speech and support for democracy
The Barents Observer is a journalist-owned online newspaper covering the Euro-Arctic region and northern Russia.
Focused on delivering cross-border journalism, the Barents Observer provides daily news reports from Scandinavia, Russia and the Arctic.
Our dedicated and experienced team of Norwegian and Russian reporters produces news and multi-media content targeting global audiences interested in Arctic issues. We follow the key trends and developments in topics like climate change, energy and industry, shipping, civil society, borders, politics, ecology, security and indigenous peoples issues.
The Barents Observer delivers journalism that follows the principles of the Norwegian Rights and Duties of the Editor.
Our core values are freedom of speech and support for democracy. By providing impartial information and opinions across borders in the Euro-Arctic region, we aim to be a counterbalance to authoritarianism and propaganda. Our reporting serves local societies, supports regional development and promotes international cooperation.
The Independent Barents Observer is a non-profit stock company fully owned by its reporting staff. No regional or national authority has owner interests in the company, nor exerts any influence on news gathering operations or editorials. The newsdesk is located in Kirkenes, a Norwegian Arctic town situated a few kilometres from the borders of Russia and Finland.
The Barents Observer publishes in English and Russian.
The Barents Observer is funded by donations from individuals, private companies, foundations and others. A grant from the European Endowment for Democracy makes it possible for us to publish news in Russian for our thousands of readers in Russia. Despite the efforts of the Kremlin’s censorship authorities, the Roskomnadzor, to block the Barents Observer from the Russian internet, we successfully manage to break through. We are grateful for the support of The Fritt Ord Foundation for journalist projects and for business start-up grants from both Innovation Norway and Sør-Varanger municipality.
In 2022/23 we invited exiled Russian journalists to work with us. Through this, the Barents Observer has created a free and safe environment on the Norwegian side of the border for Russian journalists that have fled their country in fear of prosecution for doing their job. Our passion to support the freedom of Russian journalism is made possible by donations from private individuals as well as grants from the Fritt Ord Foundation and Tinius Trust. In collaboration with UiT - Norway’s Arctic University - we run a project aimed at strengthening free and independent voices among Russians in exile, including knowledge building and journalism.
Each one of us can contribute with a small or larger donation. Together we will make a difference!
In the circumpolar north, we have teamed up with the two media networks, Eye on the Arctic and Arctic Today. Both are republishing our articles. We also cooperate with other Russian media in exile, such as 7x7 Journal and Novaya Gazeta Europa.
The Barents Observer takes the pulse on regional mass media. Our reporters take part in seminars, courses and events focusing on freedom of speech and countering propaganda and Kremlin-initiated influence operations.
The Barents Observer was founded by Atle Staalesen in 2002 as a private initiative based on the need for an increased flow of cross-border knowledge in the Barents Region. From initiation the news site has been bi-lingual in English and Russian. In the period 2005 to 2015, the editorial desk of the Barents Observer shared an office with the Norwegian Barents secretariat and the reporting staff were its employees. The secretariat was owned by the northernmost counties and in 2015 the board of the secretariat decided to remove the editorial freedom of the newspaper. They argued we shouldn’t write on topics too critical to Russia. Simultaneously as the secretariat attempted to limit editorial freedoms, Russia’s secret service, the FSB, asked Norwegian officials to shut down the Barents Observer.
Naturally, it was unacceptable for the Barents Observer not to follow basic principles of free journalism and the reporters moved out, added ‘Independent’ to the name and re-launched the publication as a journalist-owned product. Unfortunately, but also tellingly, the secretariat retains the domain name ‘barentsobserver.com’ and is unwilling to share the article-archive for the period 2008-2015.
The Barents Observer today has six employees:
- Atle Staalesen, founder and journalist
- Thomas Nilsen, editor
- Denis Zagore, journalist and multi-media content
- Georgii Chentemirov, journalist
- Elizaveta Vereykina, video-journalist
- Olesia Krivtsova, journalist
We also have Saara-Maria Salonen, a freelance journalists contributing from Inari in Finland, and Hannah Thule, a journalist contributing with news from the northern regions of Sweden and Finland.