News & Views on the Russian presence within the Arctic Circle
11 May 2010
‘ Право России на часть Арктики не может быть подвергнуто сомнению’ – the right of russia to part of the arctic cannot be called into question. This is the formulation of words that Chilingarov used when interviewed in a journal called Economic Security. Again, in relation to this post I would assert again that... Read More...
8 May 2010
Coming after the agreement over the Barents Sea and this week’s announcment of naval joint-exercises between Russia and Norway, which will test inter-operability in various scenarios such as emergency and rescue, armed attack on instillations, Norway is now focussing its Arctic diplomacy on the Arctic Council. The report in иносми is actually a translation of a Canadian article... Read More...
7 May 2010
Taimyr local government officials report that there will be a meeting between interested parties taking place in Dudinka in the Taimyr region in order to discuss, ‘information on the construction of a new icebreaker, which will go into Dudinskiy port, the practical results of hydrometeorological support of navigation of ships along the Murmansk Norilsk Nickel-Murmansk-Dudinka, as well... Read More...
6 May 2010
Last December the scientists on polar station 37 spoke of having passed through the longest polar night. From итар-тасс came comment from the scientists on board polar drift station 37: they have passed the winter equinox, though in the darkness of the polar night they did not notice. It is reported that they are now looking foward to the onset of spring - ’ Однако... Read More...
5 May 2010
I came across this comment on my blog, I don’t know exactly where it is from so I thought I ought to try and clarify something of the politics behind my posts. Consider the following: In addition to this post on the role and place of military forces and the interesting debate with Russia’s special representative from the Foreign Ministry, whicht I covered here, these comments in иноСМИ.ru by... Read More...
5 May 2010
Just a brief reminder of one of the central aspects of control over the NSR – the capacity to mount search and rescue operations. A local newspaper from Vladivokstok reminds its readers of the rescue of two fishing boats from the ice back in January by an ice-breaker from the Sakhalin shipping company. (There is more from this blog on search and rescue here). The rescue also involved... Read More...
4 May 2010
While the WWF warns of the dangers of deep, off-shore drilling in the wake of BP Florida disaster Russia is cognizant of the need to reassure that this won’t happen in the Arctic. Satellites – Sputnik – will prevent this happening in the Arctic. It is shipping and transportation where the real dangers for oil spills persist. BP are sponsoring the Arctic Bird Library... Read More...
30 April 2010
According to this report the govenor of the Murmansk region believes that Russia did not make any concessions, though he is contradicted by a former economist and engineer Nikolai Bogdanov who estimates that Russia has had to cede around 9 billion tonnes of oil and who laments the lack of a proper exploration policy and reliance on foreign firms. The Financial Times in the UK uses the metaphor... Read More...
29 April 2010
Whenever Putin does anything related to the Arctic then the internet gets jammed packed with articles and reports. So it is the case with the visit of Putin to Franz-Joseph land where the problems of polar bears and other matters have been discussed under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society. Videofootage of Putin and the scientists together with a lullaby soundtrack about... Read More...
28 April 2010
This report in прийм-тасс emphasizes that historic handshakes (vecti has videofootage of the press conference) are not quite the same thing as detailed agreement. The report states that, ‘Москва рассчитывает на диалог по этому вопросу’, which roughly means that Moscow is considering the dialogue on this issue, which is the precise... Read More...
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