Hundreds of British tourists will not be able to meet Santa in Rovaniemi, Lapland, this winter as tour operator Nortours has filed for bankruptcy. In Manchester, police were called after angry parents protested when a flight to see Santa was cancelled.

The parallel development of the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea and the Bovanenkovo field in the Yamal peninsula looks increasingly unlikely as oil prices have plummeted and Gazprom’s investment capacities strained. The company will most probably have to choose which project to develop first. Shtokman might be the looser.

The Russian Federal Security Service has reopened the towns of Nikel, Zapolyarny and Pechenga located along the border to Norway for regular traffic. However, the Pechenga Bay and the settlement of Liinakhamari remains closed area. That is a bad sign for local industry

The two major shipyards in northern Russia, the Sevmash and Zvezdochka, intend to become main producers of equipment for offshore field development in the Russian Arctic. First however, they will have to sort out a number of serious internal problems.

While Finnish-Russian trade over the first nine months of 2008 dropped with 21 percent, Norway in the same period increased its trade turnover with Russia with as much as 76 percent.

Regional authorities in Russia can no longer ignore the financial crisis in the planning of their 2009 budgets. The regions face less investments and reduced growth.

How are EU leaders supposed to understand the Russian decision to place missiles in the enclave of Kaliningrad? The Russian missiles in the Baltics will inevitably be a thorn in the eye of the EU Commission, which is now preparing for new partnership talks with the Kremlin.

The number of tourists coming to Northwest Russia today exceeds 12 million people. Experts say this number could increase to 17-24 million by year 2010.

-Our choice is the continued integration of Russia in the world economy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in Monday’s government session. He highlighted that the world financial crisis will not make Russia turn towards protectionism and isolationism

New offshore hydrocarbon fields are to be opened, oil and gas production boosted, the shelf delineated, fish catch increased and shipping along the Northern Sea Route vitalized. That is some of the plans for the Arctic laid down in the Russian government’s national social and economic development programme for the period until year 2020.

This week’s Norwegian government decision to turn down the Tromsø 2018 Olympic bid triggered a storm of protests from the northern part of the country. Intrigues around the Arctic winter games illustrate a significant level of distrust between the north and south in the long-stretched country.

The rapidly unfolding world financial crisis could have wide-reaching consequences for a number of giant regional industrial projects. One of them is the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea.

The Norwegian budget proposal presented by Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen today includes a 514 million NOK (61,3 million EUR) strengthening of the country’s High North policy. There will be more money for cooperation with Russia, as well as for environmental security in the Barents Sea.

The President of the Norwegian Sports Confederation, Ms. Tove Paule, today informed that there will be no Winter Olympics application from Tromsø 2018.

Environmentalists from the Bellona Foundation accuse StatoilHydro of neglecting its obligations on climate gas emissions. They believe the company should introduce CO2 capture in its “Snohvit” project and promote this as a good example for Gazprom’s "Shtokman".

Regional authorities in Northwest Russia to a growing extent see their transport connections with Europe in the development of the Northern Maritime Corridor project. The focus on the NMC comes as the European Union seeks to move more transport off the roads and onto the sea.

After a drop in gas production last year, Russia the first eight months of 2008 increased production with 1,2 percent. The country’s gas industry is however far from meeting demands, and pressure is increasing on gas major Gazprom.

In the wake of the South Ossetia crisis, a number of Norwegian politicians now openly admit they fear conflicts with Russia in the North. Meanwhile, economic, human and defence relations with between the two countries are closer than ever.

Russia this week confirmed its intention to start looking for oil and gas in waters near the Spitsbergen archipelago. Meanwhile, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says in a newspaper interview that Norway has the right to establish an economic zone around the islands and that all industrial activities in the area are subjected to Norwegian regulations.

The prosecutor’s office in Arkhangelsk now admits that election results in the recent local city mayor’s elections resemble fraud. The elections have already significantly weakened the position of regional Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk.