I remember Perestroika of January 1993 very well. Empty counters in Murmansk as well as throughout the whole country, teachers and doctors who had lost their jobs, tradesmen at the market, demise of a great country, uncertainty in the future, but in spite of all this there was belief in a bright future and that the reforms of Gorbachev and Yeltsin will give such a life as in civilized Western countries.
The “father” of the Barents cooperation Thorvald Stoltenberg, at that time Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, caught the signal of history: a time for signing of the Kirkenes Declaration was chosen very precisely, and the place was good – the border town of Kirkenes, a small town in the center of the Barents region. Of course, it was great that his Russian counterpart Andrei Kozyrev, Russian Foreign Minister (by the way, where is he now?) was a warm supporter of cooperation with the West. And, of course, it was great that leaders of the other Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden and Denmark, and even the EU supported the idea. In general, everything succeeded.
What did each and every one want?
Translating from an official diplomatic language to a human one, I understand the idea of the Barents cooperation as follows: poor Russia at that time expected the help and support of rich northern neighbours, in turn they wanted a stable and predictable country at hand, and, of course, new opportunities for the development of business on the huge market of the Russian North.
To senior bureaucrats’ credit it should be noted that one of the priorities for future cooperation was “people to people” contacts or human interaction. Indeed, during at least 15-16 years such contacts were developing, which could not be said about business projects.
I think everyone who is interested in international cooperation can recall at least one occasion when he, his brother, friend and certainly son or daughter participated in one of the Barents projects. Cultural ties have really grown strong: we can look back to great projects of joint opera, permanent exhibitions, concerts, performances of folk groups. Pupils and students, especially those who are not lazy to learn English, have great opportunities to travel and study in other countries of Barents Region.
The economic situation was bad for a long time. Outstanding enthusiasm of entrepreneurs of four Barents countries for the creating of joint ventures faced with the problem of different approaches to business. They thought that creating a company and doing business in Russia was as easy as in the West, and we thought they were all very good and noble, and would transfer all their technologies to us for free and love us and give us material support. But it did not happen. Almost all enterprises from the time of the beginning of the Barents cooperation have died, despite the effort and money spend on these projects.
In recent years, however, the situation has changed for the better: many foreign investors have learned to live by the laws of Russian business; Russian businessmen are slowly mastering the art of building business relationship with the West. But the road is very long.
What is in the future? A journalist’s opinion
At a recent meeting of Barents Press International Board we – journalists of the four Barents countries, tried to present our vision for the future of BEAR and send our proposals to the new Kirkenes Declaration, which we hope will be signed in June this year, when the prime-ministers of BEAR, including Dmitry Medvedev, meet in Kirkenes.
The International Association of Journalists Barents Press, which is unique in Europe, is one of concrete examples of Barents cooperation. According to experts and many journalists from different countries this is a rather successful project. It has been held up by the enthusiasm of journalists for nearly 20 years, practically as long as the Barents cooperation itself.
Back in 90-s Russian and northern journalism felt a real euphoria of freedom, we thought that we got rid of the authorities’ rigid dictation and were ready to start honest and objective journalism. The example of Western countries with their old traditions for freedom of speech of course inspired us, but I am afraid that we from the very beginning we didn’t learn the main thing: media can only be independent if it has confidence of its readers – not bosses and authorities, but readers, listeners and viewers. It is a simple and banal truth, but it is difficult to implement and does not guarantee economic success. But Russian media had to survive. And as it often happens we chose our own way, it means an old Soviet way: it is better to be friends with the budget and rich companies which could give money for information services.
Today I am again disappointed with the opinion of one reader of a Murmansk news portal. A citizen of Murmansk, who has the nick name Tatiana, wrote: nowadays our media became really insipid, it differs from Soviet newspapers and television only by the plenty of crime and lack of articles about front-rank workers. And to criticize authorities – what, is that really possible? Then readers-viewers-listeners – God forbid – would start to think by themselves…
The truth is, this is a thorn in my side. Because this is how things are lots of mass media. But as in January 1993 I believe that we will choose the right way both in journalism and in life in general.
Of course, we will not blindly copy the experience of our northern neighbours, but we will learn how to use the best that they have and what we don’t have.
I am absolutely sure that these 20 years mean a lot also for the other Barents countries. I believe that it is not for nothing they have spent huge amounts of money on Barents cooperation projects: first, they learned a lot about Russia, and how to be friends with Russia, and moreover, they realized that both of us (good and bad) can’t live without each other.
According to the statistics near 500 Russian women have left for Kirkenes. They left with small children born in Russia and have given birth to new babies. Now there is a whole new generation of Russian Norwegians. Already mentioned minister Kozyrev said the following words during one of BEAR meetings (I don’t assure for the accuracy of this quotation, I write from memory, but the meaning is accurate):
- In northern regions as well as throughout the whole Russia female population is dominant. But in the northern regions of other countries there are more men. There are many single people among them. I think Barents cooperation can be useful even in this sphere.
The minister was joking, but he must have second sight.
I hope that also other more serious Barents projects (but what can be more serious than happy family life!) will be successful at least for the next 20 years.
