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.
After four years of increased use of the Northern Sea Route by vessels going in transit between Europe and Asia, 2014 saw a steep downturn. The amount of cargo transported in transit dropped 77 percent compared to last year.
The Russian continental shelf stretches beyond the North Pole, the Russian government asserts. The country this week submitted its renewed claims for the Arctic shelf to the UN Continental Shelf Commission.
The population on Svalbard still differs from that on the Norwegian mainland. Being a community traditionally based on mining, the male surplus is still stable and small households are more common.
DIKSON: Anastasia and Svetlana feel safe when the dogs are playing with them. Just hours before we arrived to this Russian Arctic outpost, a young polar bear tried to enter a house and attacked a man. More polar bears walk the street of Dikson as climate changes shrink the sea ice earlier in the season.
REYKJAVIK: Iceland and Germany are cooperating on building an ice-free, deep-water harbour that can be a hub for Arctic shipping and petroleum activity.
