His newspaper is banned by Moscow, but Thomas Nilsen and the Barents Observer continue reporting in Russian.
It will monitor and regulate ship traffic on the Northern Sea Route.
Eyes On Barents
Russians are embracing environmental protest
A Moscow rat race against the independent Norwegian newspaper leads to its closure on Russian territory.
Norway’s go-ahead to controversial copper mine in Repparfjord on the Barents Sea coast causes pollution concerns for maritime environment important also for Russia.
Research - partner contents
Fram Centre
Higher temperatures in northern waters are not good for everyone. It affects the population of Common Eider in the region.
Fram Centre
Orrefjell mountain, in Salangen valley, Northern Norway, has one of Norway’s largest uranium deposits. The area is used for recreation and as pastureland for rough grazing animals, and the catchment area to the south is settled, with farms and houses. What does it mean to live on a mountain of uranium?
Fram Centre
You may know that the carbon dioxide we humans release is changing the climate. Fewer are aware that it is also changing the chemistry of seawater. About a third of the CO2 we emit is taken up by the oceans, where it lowers the water’s pH. That has consequences for marine ecosystems.
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Murmansk regional authorities want a permanent ban on hunting.
The size of Russia's submarine fleet sailing the Barents Sea would grow, as older vessels will not be taken out of service when new ones enter.
Eyes on Barents
In the Murmansk region, reindeer pastures and wintering grounds for breeding animals have been leased to VIP hunters
Eyes on Barents
On Lake Muddus, the world shines all white. The sky is separated from the ice only by a pine forest. It is late January. After the real cold spell of mid-January, the temperature keeps at –20 degrees Centigrade. The polar night is over, and the rays of a rising sun begin to color the sky.
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21.02
Travel
China, Singapore, UK and Italy top the list of tourists flying in to northern Finland during Christmas season.
People from Murmansk and northern Norway now have to fly via St. Petersburg or Moscow to get to Arkhangelsk.
Eyes On Barents
The purpose is to show the world that the polar night is not dark, but actually full of colors, says the local project coordinator.
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A tourism information center supported by Chechen authorities is due to open in downtown Murmansk.
The Svalbard Treaty does not prevent Norway from punishing companies that engage in catch without permission, the judges say.
Sami interests and environmental groups will appeal the Norwegian Government’s decision on Thursday to grant permission for controversial mine waste dumping in Repparfjord on the coast to the Barents Sea.
Photos and videos of the more than fifty polar bears walking around the houses in Belushaya Guba have gone viral in world-wide media arguing climate change is to blame.
A smiling Jens Stoltenberg got his border zone ID card to enter the Pechenga region five years ago. Today, the security situation in dramatically changed in the border region between Russia and Norway.
New investors join efforts in the projected Lavna coal terminal.
Flying in attack formation, the group of Su-24 attack aircraft turned away just before Norwegian airspace.
Eyes on Barents
According to a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Finland acted in an erroneous manner when the State accepted people into the electoral roll of the Sámi Parliament against the will of the Sámi Parliament.
PHOTOS
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Norwegian Coastal Administration
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Jakob Østheim / Norwegian Defense
Photo: Marius Villanger / Norwegian Defense
Photo: KV Bergen / Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: KV Bergen / Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: KV Bergen / Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: Norwegian Coast Guard
Photo: Norwegian Coast Guard
Heros of the Great Patriotic war (World War II). Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Final match in the sport hall was long ago. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Visitors can today step inside the buildings in Pyramiden. Like this sport hall. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Pyramiden is situated 50 kilometers north of Longyearbyen. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
".... our northern," reads half of the photo-collection poster left on the wall in the palace of culture. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The red tower of this town sign sculpture is made of old water-pipes from the coal mine. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The grand piano is an original "Red October" (Красный октябрь). Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Imagine a Saturday evening when the palace of culture was packed with coal miners listening to classical music. Or maybe there was an Arctic version of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet on stage? Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Soviet fairy tale illustration on the wooden fence outside the school. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The blocks of flats are well preserved by the Arctic climate. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Likely a door to heaven for the coal miners. The sign reads "Beer Bar", but the last pint was emptied 20 years ago. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
No more water in the world's northernmost swimming pool. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
One lonely ice-skate left in the window. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The mechanical workshop for the coal mine. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The entrances to the coal mine are up in the mountain above the town. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
... and yes, it is also the world's northernmost bust of Lenin. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Yes, lots of children lived in Pyramiden, a well functioning family society. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Where people once lived, birds have now taken over. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Svalbard is famous for its bird-watching sites. Although this "bird-cliff" is somehow special. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Why the town was named Pyramiden? Well, take a look at the nearest mountain. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Comrade Lenin has a great panorama view over the town with the Nordenskiold glacier in the background. The town is still state-owned and maintained by the Russian mining company Arktikugol Trust. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
From the shafts, the coal was transported to port via this structure. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Coal loading crane in the port of Pyramiden. Operated by the Russians, but Svalbard is Norwegian land. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Nice playground under the Arctic sun, but image how it was to be a child here during polar night. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
USSR-Norwegian friendly connections. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Hammer and Sickle, the symbol of the Soviet Union. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Pyramiden even had its own cowshed. Nothing's like a fresh glas of milk after a long night in the coal mine at 79 degrees north. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
With a bit of luck you may meet an Arctic fox in between the abandoned buildings in Pyramiden. A bit curious, and not too afraid of humans if you keep a distance. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The hospital. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Children's reading book over a dusty version of the transcripts from the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1986), the first congress presided over by Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Outdoor sport stadion named after Yury Gagarin, the first man in space. Football field in summer, ice-skating rink during winter. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
In times of climate changes, Pyramiden coal power plant provided both heat and electricity. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Pyramiden was abandoned in 1998, but the houses are still in rather good shape and are maintained by Arktikugol Trust (Арктикуголь means Arctic coal). Photo: Thomas Nilsen
"Kuzbass" is another important coal region for Russia. Pyramiden heliport in the background. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Seems like this building is sad not to house people anymore. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Soviet-style Arctic art made of mosaic on the wall in the cantina. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Really large cooking pots in the cantina. For the coal miners. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Twelve-past-we-left-the-town. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Some plants are thirstier than others. For this one, it is too late. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The party is over. For good. Priviet (hello) vodka. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The main (and only) avenue in Pyramiden is named after the 60th anniversary of the October revolution. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
"No smoking". Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Map of the world on top of the world. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Pyramiden coal harbor. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Long time ago, in Pyramiden, a green indoor plant decorated the cantina. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The world's northernmost Palace of Culture. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Once upon a time the world's northernmost kindergarten (rigth) and school (2-storey building). Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Part of the port facility in Pyramiden. The Nordenskiöld glacier across the fjord. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Pyramiden is located in Billefjorden, an appendix fjord in the innermost part of Isfjorden. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The Norwegian company found no oil in the well located few kilometers from the border to Russia.
Finnish-Norwegian working group says cargo volumes are too small to justify building a railway from Rovaniemi to Kirkenes.
The Asian superpower looks towards the Arctic and finds a home in this year’s Barents Spektakel winter festival.
The growing engagement of China in the Arctic is accompanied by independent Chinese-language news from and about the region.
Chief of Norway’s military intelligence service, Lieutenant General Morten Haga Lunde, highlighted Chinese, Russian Arctic cooperation in his annual focus report.
Repeatedly disturbances of satellite navigation signals now troubles road constructors in Kirkenes.
Source of the radioactivity blowing in the wind is unknown.
52 polar bears are walking around the corners in the town of Belushya Guba on Novaya Zemlya scaring people from leaving their houses.
Norway allows allied nuclear submarines to make port calls to the civilian industrial harbor of Grøtsund north of Tromsø, 375 kilometers from the Russian border.
Sulphur dioxid gas still lies thick over over the nickel plants located along the border to Norway. But there are now major emission cuts in the making, the company says.
The modernised T-80BVM is the tank best suited for Arctic operations, the Northern Fleet says.
The company must be allowed to continue LNG shipping with foreign-built tankers, Yuri Trutnev says.
Svetlana Prokopyova was detained by masked man who first raided her home.
Could enable direct electricity supply to remote Arctic regions at lower cost than a shore based gas power plant.
A new grim climate report outlines how thawing permafrost combined with more heavy rainfall will trigger landslides and coastal erosion.
A new unit is established for guarding and protection of the vessels based in the Kola Peninsula.
Obey restrictions imposed by media regulator Roskomnadzor or risk being blocked in Russia.
Russian New Year celebrations, which run until mid-January, is normally a busy time for cross-border shopping. Not so this year.
Barents Must-Reads
Eyes on Barents
Dan Eriksson, who is a proud gay Sámi today, knows what it is all about. He has lived most of his life in denial about his true self, and he had to go through years of mental ill-being and two suicide attempts before he found the courage to talk.
More fields are coming into production and peak oil is expected in year 2023. Arctic waters are priority No 1, the country’s Petroleum Directorate says.
Both police and rescue services in Northern Norway are deeply worried as GPS signals are interrupted. Public safety and life could in worst case be in danger, warns the police.
This was once upon a time the world's northernmost kindergarten and primary school. Abandoned twenty years ago, Pyramiden coal-mining town on the northern edge of the world is a preserved display of what the Soviet Union wanted to offer in the Arctic if communism worked. It didn’t.
For visitors, the Russian town on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago combines the contrasts of pristine Arctic beauty and Soviet style industry. Nowadays, however, Barentsburg is reshaping its business-focus to become a modern Russian hub for explorer travellers.
Singer Vladimir Martynenko from Murmansk used to tour neighbouring Scandinavia with Russian ballades about faith and love. He was arrested and spent more than 2 years in Lefortovo after refusing to cooperate with the Federal Security Service.