News & Views on the Russian presence within the Arctic Circle
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...
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...
23 April 2010
This report in риа-новости quotes a researcher at the National Geophysical Observatory speaking at a conference in St. Petersburg which states that there will be a prolonged period of global cooling, peaking after 15 years. The scientist claims that the oscillation in the global temperature is greater than that observed under global warming. There is explicit criticsism... Read More...
23 April 2010
Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Anton Vasiliev made a good job of explaining Russia’s Arctic plans in the RIA Novocti interview with journalists from London, Moscow, Finland, France and also some experts and academics. The discussion was wide-ranging and based on Medvedev’s 2020 document. The discussion covered issues of climate change, transport and communications,... Read More...
22 April 2010
… have suddenly entered the fray. This report here is on the attempt of a yacht Peter 1st to circumnavigate the Arctic Ocean without the assistance of an ice-breaker. The expedition will take place this June and will follow the northern sea route. You could almost miss the significance of this event until it is claimed that, ‘the success of the expedition will secure... Read More...
20 April 2010
In a response to the speech given in the Duma noted here, and which is repeated here, the satirists have hit back. The representative of the United Russia party was keen for all journalists and commentators to fall in behind the government’s plans for the Arctic, instead of defending terrorists who blow people up on trains. In the internet publication MKRU a fair amount of scorn... Read More...
19 April 2010
RIA Novocti has a good deal of multimedia material on the Arctic in advance of upcoming meetings, such as the Arctic Council meeting at the end of the month. There is a press conference here with Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Anton Vasiliev which will take me some time to digest and understand. In the meantime, again in line with a number of reports from recent days,... Read More...
16 April 2010
The cultural dimension of Russia’s Arctic policies is repeated again today in a debate in the Duma, underlining the almost intense ideological elements that were evident, for example, in the ‘Kraftwerk video’ (yesterday). According to Michael Nenashev, Duma Member and representative of United Russia Party it is necessary to create a common cultural position for the unification... Read More...
15 April 2010
радио-голос, which consistently takes a tough line in these matters, reports that the USA is going to use an air-transit route over the North Pole to Afghanistan. This plan does not take into account the interests of Russia, could potentially use Russian air-space and ‘американские транзитные планы идут в разрез с курсом на... Read More...
SubscribeTo the Arctic Russia RSS feed to receive up to date news