Atle Staalesen

An Italian rig is drilling in Russia's vulnerable Ob Bay

The Perro Negro 8 is exploring the shallow and far northern waters. Several wells will this year be drilled on the Russian Arctic shelf.
August 06, 2021

Violetta Grudina is banned from running in Murmansk elections

It is illegal and a disgrace, says the independent politician as the Murmansk election commission turns down her candidacy in the upcoming local vote.
August 06, 2021

Murmansk boosts exports to $4.7 billion. Only 3% goes to neighbouring Norway

The Russian Arctic region has almost doubled its exports over the past five years.
August 05, 2021

Northern Sea Route developer pleads Putin to approve big plan for Arctic container shipping

"There is a huge interest in the international business community," Chief of Rosatom Aleksei Likhachev tells the President.
August 05, 2021

Mining and metallurgy major Nornickel expands on Northern Sea Route

The company intends to build several icebreakers and invest 26 billion rubles in its Dudinka seaport.
July 28, 2021

Hungry for more oil, Norway aims for €36 billion investments in new fields

The Nordic country fears its oil production could drop by more than 70 percent in 20 years unless new discoveries are made.
July 27, 2021

Moscow's big plan for trans-Arctic shipping: 2,000 percent growth in 10 years

The Russian government intends to boost annual transit volumes on the Northern Sea Route from 1,3 million tons in 2020 to 30 million tons in 2030.
July 23, 2021

Super-fast sub "Golden Fish" lives on in North Russian Navy town

The conning tower of the world's fastest ever submarine is being turned into a memorial to be placed in the city park of Severodvinsk.
July 16, 2021

The great Arctic greenwash

They are among the world's biggest climate gas emitters. And they are trying to justify their huge new oil and gas projects in the remotest part of the planet.
July 09, 2021

Alarm bells ringing for Atlantic salmon. An invasive species from the Pacific appears to take its place

Local regulators are introducing fishing bans in several rivers in the north Norwegian Finnmark region as fears grow over the future of the Atlantic salmon.
July 08, 2021

Pages

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