Newsletter: A Demanding Sanctions Regime
On Sunday, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford sailed in formation with its ship group Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 in the North Sea. Following the aircraft carrier are the missile cruiser USS Normandy and the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, as well as frigates of the SNMG1 from Germany, Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands. The latter is participating in the American-led marine exercise Formidable Shield in the High North and the North Atlantic. (Photo: Jackson Adkins/US Navy)
Dear reader. While the sanctions hit hard in some areas, there are loopholes for others. There is currently little standing in the way of Russian gas transport. We also cover Russia's interests in Svalbard and the business sector in the north in this week's newsletter.
This week's "Russia in the North" concerns both Svalbard, shipping, and Russian gas off the Norwegian coast.
High North News has put the spotlight on how recently re-registered Russian gas carriers utilize Norwegian ports when they carry gas from Siberia to Europe. A topic that is also the subject of Editor-in-Chief Arne O. Holm's commentary:
Russia is also maintaining activity on Svalbard, where the yearly coal production in Barentsburg is to be reduced from 120 000 to 40 000 tonnes. Instead, the focus will be on the development of independent infrastructure for tourism on Svalbard.
The Russian Arctic LNG 2 project clears a major, and possibly final, hurdle, and Russian officials announced that year-round exports of liquified natural gas from the Arctic to Asia will begin early next year.
The Arctic Federal University in Arkhangelsk will introduce Chinese as a second foreign language to further develop the NSR.
The fact that the world's largest aircraft carrier has sailed into the Oslo Fjord has not gone without notice either. (Norwegian only)
Life at boarding school
Barely two weeks after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will publish its report on the 1st of June, Norway's Arctic University Museum opens the exhibition "Always a stranger", which is about life in boarding schools.
On the right path
The business sector is flourishing in the north.
And Statkraft and Celsa Armeringsstål in Northern Norway have entered into a long-term power agreement.
And do not miss out on this op-ed about the Arctic Council. Read about this and more at High North News.
Thank you for following us. On behalf of the editorial staff, I wish you all the best for the weekend,
News Editor, Trine Jonassen
This newsletter has been translated by HNN's Birgitte Annie Molid Martinussen.