Russia’s crack-down on foreign funded groups have reached Nordic Council’s information office in Kaliningrad. Carl Bildt and the other Nordic Foreign Ministers lodge sharp protest.
EU’s Economic and Social Committee recommends in its Arctic Policy opinion that key civil society partners should be given a stronger advisory role in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council.
Politicians from northern Russia will come for the Barents Parliamentarian Conference starting in Harstad on Monday, but will meet only one single colleague from the north. Troms Governor Pia Svensgaard says the county councils in northern Norway are not invited.
“…feminism is very dangerous…,” says Patriarch Kirill in a statement the same day as Russia’s Parliament overwhelmingly passes a bill targeting those who offend believers’ feelings.
Meeting in St. Petersburg, the two Prime Ministers agree to encourage business cooperation in the new Kirkenes-declaration to be signed at the Barents top-meeting in June.
Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun today offered head of the regional branch of the Communist Party Gennady Stepakhno position as Deputy Governor responsible for the region’s agriculture sector.
Indigenous right activist Pavel Sulyandziga had to withdraw his candidature after pressure as Moscow and gas-hungry Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District urged the candidature of State Duma deputy from United Russia Gregory Ledkov.
MURMANSK: Regional Duma member Pavel Sazhinov believes a permanent participation from parliamentarians will counter the reduced interest for Barents Regional Council.
Norwegian and Russian naval forces will soon be ready to start the annual POMOR exercise. Norway’s frigate “KNM Helge Ingstad” today arrived at the Northern Fleet’s main base of Severomorsk.
KIRUNA: the Arctic Council’s biodiversity group today released the “Arctic Biodiversity Assessment”, a report containing the best available science on the status and trends of Arctic biodiversity and accompanying policy recommendations for biodiversity conservation.
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are poised to consistently climb above 400 parts per million for the first time in human history - a reality that has damning implications for the Arctic.
After having been on the verge of bankruptcy, the Northland Resources now confirms that it has the funding needed for continued development of the great Kaunisvaara iron mine project in northern Sweden.
KIRUNA: The Arctic Council welcomed six new observer countries this morning, among them China, Japan and South Korea. But one was notably absent: the European Union.
KIRUNA: The first indigenous chairperson of the Arctic Council said she will use her two-year term to raise awareness of how important the indigenous way of life is and will put the interests of northern people first when considering Arctic research, development and policy.
In a rapidly changing Arctic, the region's indigenous people are standing at the forefront of climate change and resource development – a situation that's putting them increasingly in the international spotlight and raising questions about their role in Arctic policy making.
10 Barents Spektakel festivals in a row in Kirkenes calls for a one year festival break for the organizers in the art curator group "Pikene på Broen". The next festival will probably be held in the winter of 2015.
Russia’s crack-down on foreign funded groups have reached Nordic Council’s information office in Kaliningrad. Carl Bildt and the other Nordic Foreign Ministers lodge sharp protest.
EU’s Economic and Social Committee recommends in its Arctic Policy opinion that key civil society partners should be given a stronger advisory role in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council.
Last Thursday people all over Russia celebrated Victory Day, which marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War. BarentsObserver brings you photos from the celebrations in Murmansk, Nikel, Arkhangelsk and Litsa.