Atle Staalesen

Putin's yacht escaped through Northern Sea Route. Almost at the same time, route operator Rosatom closed down its online ship tracker

According to Aleksei Navalny's team of investigators, Vladimir Putin sent his much beloved Graceful through the icy and remote Arctic waters in order to save it from arrest.
September 01, 2023

Norwegian oilmen lay out a picture of Svalbard

There is a growing interest in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate says in a statement and pitches a photo from the far northern Svalbard archipelago.
August 31, 2023

WANTED by Kyiv: war criminals from the Russian Arctic border town of Zapolyarny

Vladislav Salyavin is one of several men from the Russian borderland to Norway and Finland that are wanted for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
August 29, 2023

Holiday camp season is coming to end. For many Russian kids, it has been a summer with weapons training and war propaganda

Thousands of Russian school children have spent this summer in camps where they have been drilled in patriotism and handling of weapons
August 22, 2023

French cruise ship makes rendezvous with Russian nuclear icebreaker near North Pole

In thick Arctic sea-ice, 150 meter long icebreaking cruise vessel Le Commandant Charcot makes acquaintance with Russia's 50 Let Pobedy.
August 20, 2023

China's icebreaker Xuelong-2 is sailing to the North Pole

In cooperation with researchers from Russia and Thailand, Arctic experts from the Chinese Polar Institute are sailing 15,500 nautical miles on an expedition to the top of the world.
August 17, 2023

Wrecked by Ukrainian drone, Polish-built landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak is placed in a dry dock with large hole in its hull

The warship that belongs to Russia's Northern Fleet and normally sails in Arctic waters might never again disembark its men and armoured vehicles.
August 16, 2023

New production platform arrives in Utrenneye. It is part of Russia's big push into Arctic LNG

Accompanied by 12 tugs and support ships, the 640,000 ton heavy production unit this week docked in the Utrenneye port in far northern Gydan peninsula.
August 15, 2023

A month after they set out on Arctic voyage, two Russian oil tankers still battle with sea-ice

The ships that are loaded with more than 200,000 tons of oil might have been surprised by ice pack in the East Siberian Sea.
August 11, 2023

Norway outlines powerful electrification of its North

Major investments in renewables, new power lines and emission cuts are to set stage for an industrial revival of the country's northernmost Finnmark region.
August 08, 2023

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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