Tag: Russia

Svalbard – The Russian state-owned company Trust Arktikugol has once again requested permission to build a road to Coles Bay.

Marcel Schütz

The Russian state-owned company Trust Arktikugol has expressed its interest in building a road connection between the settlement of Barentsburg and the long-abandoned ghost town of Colesbukta in a letter to the Norwegian authorities.

Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska is a reminder that the 49th state was once a Russian territory

Polar Journal AG Team

On Aug. 15, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. It will reportedly be the first time a Russian leader has set foot in Alaska since Russia sold the territory to the U.S. 178 years ago.

NATO gains altitude in Bodø

Camille Lin

Last Thursday in Bodø, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Støre made official the creation of an air base north of the Arctic Circle. A strategic turning point in the face of Russia, which rekindles tensions over the militarization of the Arctic and respect for the indigenous rights of the Sami people.

The Polar Retrospective – A polar science only meeting, Russian plans for new Arctic vessels, and a cloud observatory in Antarctica

Polar Journal AG Team

The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we take a look at the annual meeting of the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research, Russia’s push to build a fleet of 130 Arctic vessels to expand trade with China along the Northern Sea Route, and a new cloud observatory in Antarctica that could close critical gaps in climate models

Arctic development as seen by the Russian population

Camille Lin

A study conducted by Arctida surveys Russian public opinion on the Kremlin's plans for the Arctic. Environment, defense, and mining... here are some of the responses in figures.

The Polar Retrospective - Russia-US Arctic oil talks, a withdrawn documentary, 'glacial fracking', and Greenlanders' genes

Polar Journal AG Team

This week we look at the latest statement of Russian official Kirill Dmitriev, a now withdrawn documentary, glacial fracking, and a new study on Greenlandic genes.

As AI makes Arctic languages accessible, fears of disinformation rise

Signe Ravn-Højgaard represents the Think Tank for Digital Infrastruture. She wrote her Ph.d. at the Department of Journalism at Ilisimatursafik, the University of Greenland. Photo: The Think Tank for Digital Infrastructure

Ole Ellekrog

The Greenlandic public debate used to be immune to foreign influence but in recent months it has become available to hostile foreign actors.

"These companies are destroying the environment and harming the local people in Chukotka"

Camille Lin

The Beringovsky mine has been operated since 2016 by an Australian company, which withdrew from the project this summer. The company avoided Western sanctions thanks to a complex set-up of Cyprian and Russian companies, but none of this would have been revealed had the mine not been the scene of an environmental and human disaster. Ilya Shumannov, CEO of Arctida, conducted an extensive investigation. He told us all about it.

A time of great opportunity for reconfiguring the governance of the Arctic

Guest Author

In this guest article, Doaa Abdel-Motaal, Visiting Professor of Polar Studies at Sciences Po, Paris, argues that the time is right to reduce tension in the Arctic and that in the current geopolitical situation de-escalation is possible.

In shrinking Soviet towns, Northern Sea Route promise is keeping hope alive

A painted history of the Northern Sea Route, photographed in Tiksi in 2019. Photo: Olga Povoroznyuk

Ole Ellekrog

A research project at the University of Vienna is attempting an, at the moment, difficult task: to conduct anthropological research on the Russian Arctic.