Atle Staalesen

As heat sweeps over the Arctic, Moscow seeks way to adapt

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.
January 04, 2019

New FSB base opens way for more operations in Arctic

The Russian security service starts year 2019 with a new base for its coast guard vessels in Murmansk.
January 03, 2019

Air Force ready to land in new Arctic bases

Crews of Russian reconnaissance and attack aircrafts train for operations in the country’s high Arctic archipelagos.
January 02, 2019

It’s a law - Russian Arctic shipping to be regulated by Rosatom

President Putin signs the bill that makes the country’s state nuclear power company top regulator of the Northern Sea Route.
January 02, 2019

Drama in Arctic waters as trawler runs aground at Svalbard

The crew of 14 was saved, but the fate of the vessel, which has 300,000 litres of diesel oil on board, remains unclear.
December 31, 2018

Researchers rejoice as construction starts of offshore Arctic station

The new installation will be crucial for our studies of the rapid ongoing changes in the region, Russian Arctic research leaders say.
December 28, 2018

Miners dig deeper into vast Kola nickel reserve

The resources of the great Zhdanovskoye field remain huge, but mining company Kola MMC need to go increasingly deep to keep up production.
December 27, 2018

On Equinor’s wishing list is a new oil field near border to Russia

The Norwegian energy company starts the new year with drilling of two wells in the Barents Sea, only few kilometers from Russia.
December 23, 2018

No Christmas cash for robber of world’s northernmost bank

There were few ways to escape for the man who robbed the bank in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.
December 21, 2018

A large-scale Russian military exercise is coming to the Arctic

Key parts of next year’s Tsentr-2019 drills will be held in the area between the Arctic archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands, the Russian Defense Ministry confirms.
December 20, 2018

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Atle is journalist and Publisher of the Independent Barents Observer.

In 2002, he founded the Barents Observer. He was editor until 2009 and later worked as journalist and project coordinator for several European cross-border cooperation projects. In late 2015, following a conflict over editorial rights, he re-established the Barents Observer as an independent and non-profit stock company along with the rest of the newspaper crew.  

Atle has a degree in Russian studies from the University of Oslo and studied journalism at the Moscow State University.

atle@thebarentsobserver.com
@atlestaalesen