Europe’s longest and and one of the world’s hardest dog sledge races, Finnmarksløpet, takes place this week. The winner becomes the world champion for 2015.
Regional authorities in Murmansk have proposed to the Russian President that the region becomes official training ground for athletes ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
This week Kirkenes and the Norwegian Union of Education mark the 70 years anniversary of the internal exile of 1100 teachers who refused to teach Vidkun Quisling’s Nazi curriculum during the Second World War.
-The projected 100 meter high statue of Christ will ruin the landscape of the Solovki archipelago, director of the local museum says. Famous Russian architect Zurab Tsereteli still wants his monumental work to be placed on the far northern island.
Natural gas is not only of high importance for the Russian economy, but also for Russia’s cultural life as the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea gets its own symphony.
KIRKENES: The Barents Spektakel is Norway´s most border-crossing festival. For five days each year the little Norwegian border town of Kirkenes explodes in culture events, concerts with international top bands and political debates. See photos from the 2013 festival.
The Russian Chess Federation looses its court case against the organizers of the Tromsø Olympiad. And Norway’s World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen decides to leave the championship.
