More from: Security

US Navy brings massive fire power to Tromsø

This is the first time a guided missile submarine of the Ohio-class makes port call to Northern Norway. The “USS Florida” is one of the most powerful warships in the world, capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles.
September 14, 2023

NATO drone on first time mission over Finland

The large surveillance drone flew along the border with Russia’s Karelia region. It improves situation awareness and strengthens national defense, the Finnish Defense Forces says.
September 14, 2023

“Women's rights in Russia are in a catastrophic state.” How war changes the lives of women in Russia

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the level of violence against women in Russia has increased, and the state has suddenly taken an interest in their reproductive rights again.
September 13, 2023

With northern focus, Finland applies EU funding to improve military mobility

Roads, railways and bridges in Lapland with links to Sweden and Norway are crucial for both military and civilian transportation to Finland in case the Baltic Sea should be closed.
September 13, 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

“We’re afraid to walk the streets”. The participants of the double murder in Lovozero are out of jail thanks to the war in Ukraine

Konstantin Prikhodchenko and Arsentiy Bondarev, who killed two residents of Lovozero, Murmansk region in 2020, returned home without serving even a small portion of their sentence. Victims’ families are now afraid of revenge.
August 15, 2023

Moscow first called Oslo "unfriendly." Now, it has become "very unfriendly"

Norway is the only of Russia's neighboring countries that is included in a list of states with a so-called unfriendly line against Russian diplomatic offices.
August 03, 2023

Suspect of mass murder fought in Ukraine

Igor Sofonov, a career criminal from the north Russian region of Karelia, is suspected of killing six residents of the village of Derevyannoye near Petrozavodsk. The Barents Observer has established that Sofonov fought in the Luhansk region of Ukraine in 2022.
August 02, 2023

Sweden flies first time intelligence mission close to Kola Peninsula

“This is the first time I have seen a Swedish military reconnaissance and intelligence plane flying in northern Finland to collect information from Russian systems in the area of the Kola Peninsula,” says expert Per Erik Solli with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
August 02, 2023

"Ten Western terrorist plots against Karelia over last half year," says Russian security chief Patrushev

In an apparent attempt to stir fear and hostility, the powerful FSB hawk claims that the Northwest Russian border region is under attack from Western and Ukrainian security services.
August 01, 2023

Russian diplomat staged Navy Parade at Norway’s Svalbard archipelago

The world’s northernmost diplomat, GRU-affiliated Andrei Chemerilo, led the military-inspired small flotilla in the waters outside Barentsburg on Sunday.
July 31, 2023

Putin came to Murmansk to bolster regional military. But cancelled meeting with military leaders

The president's planned visit to Severomorsk, the Northern Fleet headquarters, was reportedly cancelled due to "bad weather."
July 24, 2023

Northern Fleet will not send nuclear sub to main Navy parade

Amid Baltic Sea NATO expansion and growing east-west mistrust, Russia has decided not to sail a nuclear-powered submarine from the Kola Peninsula to the annual high-profile naval parade taking place in St. Petersburg on July 30.
July 14, 2023

Northern Fleet landing ship is ready to start shuttle tourists from Crimea

The landing ship "Olenegorsky Gornyak" has been assigned to transportation of civilians and commercial goods to and from the occupied peninsula.
July 12, 2023

P-8 Poseidon on Barents Sea mission, turned off transponders

While the Norwegian P-8 Poseidon flew north of the Kola Peninsula, an American RC-135V Rivet Joint was circling over northernmost Finland, near the border with Russia.
July 11, 2023

New submarine for Northern Fleet will be named "Mariupol"

Russia is about to start the building of six improved Kilo-class submarines for Arctic waters. They will all get their names from occupied Ukrainian cities.
July 10, 2023

Russia's giant self-propelled Navy crane is heading to Novaya Zemlya

The "PK-7500" has undergone mechanical repair and will now be applied for "technical underwater operations" in the far northern and heavily militarized archipelago.
July 07, 2023

North Russian Governor bonds with Wagner Group

Vladimir Uiba regularly appears in public with the insignia of the paramilitary group on his jacket. The Komi leader might have been connected with Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin for several years.
March 29, 2023

Putin's hope for Sarmat missile launch from Plesetsk failed

As Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced Russia suspending participation in the New START treaty, information appears that a long awaited test launch of the new Sarmat missile the day before was unsuccessful.
February 22, 2023

Land forces at Kola reduced to one-fifth, Norwegian Intelligence says

"The land forces on Kola are reduced to a fifth of their original numbers before the invasion of Ukraine," says Chief of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensønes to the Barents Observer. He warns that the consequence is a Russia which may lower the threshold for nuclear escalation, also near Norway.
February 13, 2023

Three years without one single on-site US nuclear weapons inspection at base for Northern Fleet ballistic missile submarines

The State Department says Russia has denied the United States its right to conduct inspections under the New START Treaty.
February 10, 2023

Behind patriotic Z-shows in Arkhangelsk jingles alarming death song

Amid efforts to boost local patriotism and fighting spirit, the number of men from the north Russian region killed on the battlefields in Ukraine rises to more than 30 in two months.
February 08, 2023

Arctic oil-driller Gazprom Neft creates its own private military company

Unclear what threats Russia’s newest paramilitary company will counter in the Arctic.
February 08, 2023

Last Typhoon removed from service

After 41 years in Arctic waters, the giant Cold War weapon TK-208 “Dmitri Donskoy” is withdrawn from service.
February 06, 2023

US soldiers to train Arctic warfare in Lapland from Monday

Together with the Jaeger Brigade in Sodankylä, the American soldiers will exercise tactical interoperability in the coldest wilderness of northern Europe.
February 05, 2023

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