There is unease in several Russian government ministries as officials start to understand that the President’s objectives for the Northern Sea Route can not be reached. The only way to please the president might be to expand the sea route itself.
Regional authorities in the Yamal Nenets region are aware of the potential devastating consequences of climate change, but say necessary measures are taken.
It will coordinate the country’s expanding development of regional infrastructure and industry.
Scandinavian aviation authorities report a year-on-year increase in passengers at most northern airports in 2018.
A total of 14 powerful LNG carriers this Wednesday crowded at loading and reloading facilities in northern Norway.
Research - partner contents
Fram Centre
Pest insect outbreaks in the subarctic birch forest of northern Norway are among the most abrupt and large-scale ecosystem disturbances attributed to recent climate change in Europe. But such outbreaks have occurred regularly as far back as historical records go. What is new and why are moth outbreaks a cause of concern?
Fram Centre
The Soviet research vessel "Sevastopol" arrived in Bergen on 16 February 1958. On board were eight scholars who were to resume the marine research cooperation that Norway and Russia had established before the Russian Revolution of 1917. Half a year later, Norwegian oceanographers returned the favour by visiting Murmansk.
Fram Centre
Svalbard’s polar bears, which belong to the Barents Sea population, were hunted intensively up to protection in 1973. After that, the population recovered significantly. But in more recent years, sea ice loss in this area has been more severe than in any other polar bear habitat. How are they doing now?
The Barents Observer Newsletter
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«It is time for reflections about what we have achieved in these years, the country’s oil minister said as he announced the record number of 83 new licenses.
Norway and Sweden support a proposal from Finland to hold regularly joint Nordic cross-border military exercises with army troops.
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority gets serious criticism for its followup of security in Norwegian waters.
Eyes on Barents
The scandalous Gayzer Case continues with testimonies of former Komi deputy Governor Chernov
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Siste/ mest lest
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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Eyes on Barents
About 34 years ago, a drill missile fell into Lake Inari in Northern Finland. The event affected life in the area in many ways. The media circus extended to the homes of the local people and even led to changes in restaurant menus.
Here it is: A vessel that can both crush through the ice and dive beneath it when working on extraction of mineral resources from the Arctic seabed.
Moscow’s new scary class of nuclear weapons will be deployed from two submarines sailing for the Northern Fleet, each to carry a maximum of eight drones.
An Arctic match of the year is to be held on ice near 90 degrees North.
The ships are on their way from China and South Korea and will have to break through up to 2 meter thick ice.
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.
Eyes on Barents
Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun might have promised Patriarch Kirill to build a cathedral on spot of the central city sport stadium.
More fields are coming into production and peak oil is expected in year 2023. Arctic waters is priority No 1, the country’s Petroleum Directorate says.
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 minister of defense uses his new year’s speech to lash out against the neighboring country.
Norwegian Aviation Authority warns pilots in the airspace over Eastern Finnmark of irregular conditions for satellite navigation.
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.
First time British Apache helicopters have operated in the Arctic.
Eyes on Barents
Opinions on the impact of a planned test field for wind power on Uljabuouda Fell, Sweden, are divided.
Europe’s three northernmost border checkpoints to Russia all had a decline in traffic of about 4% in 2018.
The photo of a nuclear bomb test going terribly wrong in August 1987 is revealed by a Russian blogger.
Norwegian seafood export valued record high €10 billion in 2018, up 5% compared to 2017.
The new political department of the Russian Armed Forces has its first training session for soldiers serving in high Arctic bases.
A global heatwave is gaining force and the Russian government appears to acknowledge that its Arctic will be among the regions worst hit. But the country’s response is not combat of climate change, but rather adaption to the new reality.
A group of three Finnish and one Swedish skiers was making its way through the Tamok valley in northern Norway when a major avalanche hit.
Eyes on Barents
Sápmi, the Land of the Sámi, cannot offer all the young people the kind of schooling they are interested in. To follow their dreams, many have to move away from their home region.
The Russian security service starts year 2019 with a new base for its coast guard vessels in Murmansk.
Crews of Russian reconnaissance and attack aircrafts train for operations in the country’s high Arctic archipelagos.
President Putin signs the bill that makes the country’s state nuclear power company top regulator of the Northern Sea Route.
The crew of 14 was saved, but the fate of the vessel, which has 300,000 litres of diesel oil on board, remains unclear.
The new installation will be crucial for our studies of the rapid ongoing changes in the region, Russian Arctic research leaders say.
The resources of the great Zhdanovskoye field remain huge, but mining company Kola MMC need to go increasingly deep to keep up production.
Barents Must-Reads
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.
About 50 brand new reinforced large weapons bunkers are under construction at Okolnaya Bay just north of Severomorsk.
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.
The big winds that come in from the Barents Sea carry flush green power and profits. But developers are held back by sparse infrastructure. And a growing opposition from local groups.
Smile for military cooperation: Chief Officer at «KV Barentshav» Frode Urke (left) and Head of the Northern Fleet's exercise unit Aleksandr Ulyanov (in the middle) are happy to work together in the Barents Sea. The scenario is realistic; missing people and people in distress at sea and prevention of oil spill pollution.
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.