Greenpeace’s vessel «Arctic Sunrise» has been released after nearly nine months of detention in Murmansk, following the organization’s demonstration against Arctic drilling in the Pechora Sea last fall.
Russia is developing its search and rescue infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route and plans to open ten SAR centers by 2015. Murmansk will have its center ready in November.
The Barents cooperation’s Working Group of Indigenous Peoples has elected a new leader – Christina Henriksen, Saami from Norway. She points out international cooperation and its permanent funding as two of her main objectives in her work.
New legislation slashes the number of regions officially included in Russian Arctic territories. Major parts of the Barents Region will no longer be acknowledged as “Arctic”.
Development of military cooperation among the Arctic countries should not be considered a militarization of the region, Russia’s Arctic Ambassador Anton Vasiliev says.
ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) has released an advisory on navigation on the Northern Sea Route to support shipowners and operators intending to transit shipping routes through the Arctic seas.
Russia has started paying back the bail money paid by Greenpeace for 30 activists arrested in the Prirazlomnaya case. At the same time, the arrested Greenpeace icebreaker “Arctic Sunrise” has cost port authorities in Murmansk €65.000.
TROMSØ: Norwegian PM Erna Solberg received a box with 2,000 signatures against Arctic oil drilling Tuesday morning, but could assure the environmentalists that oil drilling will be an important part of the future.
TROMSØ: WWF’s Nina Jensen urges a ban on heavy fuel oil for Arctic shipping while shipowner Felix Tschudi says it is a myth that such ban is best for the environment.
TROMSØ: Sea ice in the Arctic is melting away at the same speed as the global interest to the area grows. Arctic Frontiers conference opens today with record high participation from around the globe.
