The Russian ruler gathered the governors of all Arctic regions for a talk about big projects. Among them is a nuclear power station in the north Siberian village of Ust-Kuiga.
Climate calamity looms, but Moscow's participation at the COP28 will be remembered for its unfaltering support for fossil fuels and the key role of Chechen strongmen.
Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov underlines that it is a national priority for Russia to make a "full-scale takeover" of Arctic territories beyond the country's 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone.
A comprehensive Defence Cooperation Agreement between Sweden and the US marks historical milestone in Nordic security. Seventeen base areas are included in the deal, among them four in the north of the country.
A national initiative on photographing wives and mothers of warriors fighting in Ukraine made it to the military towns located along the border to Norway and Finland
The Syradasayskoye coal mine was to produce several million tons of of high-quality coal already in 2024. But developer Severnaya Zvezda does not have any of the vessels needed for shipping through the thick Arctic sea-ice.
General Aleksandr Zavadsky commanded infantry brigades from the Kola Peninsula. He was killed as his car ran over a mine in the occupied Kharkiv region.
Among the more than 30 Russian military clergymen that have been killed in Ukraine is a priest that used to serve on a nuclear submarine and one that jumped in a parachute with Spetsnaz troops on the North Pole.
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.