Russian energy major Gazprom in January produced 44,54 billion cubic meters of gas, which is down 13,7 percent year-on-year. Analysts believe the company in 2009 will experience a major reduction both in production and profits.
The captain of the Aeroflot-Nord jet that crashed near Perm in September last year had alcohol in his blood shows a test. All 88 people on board were killed when the Boeing 737 went down. Aeroflot-Nord is based in Arkhangelsk.
Chief of police in Eastern Finnmark police district says more crime can follow the planned border zone regime between Norway and Russia. Both the Kirkenes Mayor and Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat say the police-boss is stigmatizing the Russians.
A leakage from Russia’s National Security strategy document reveals an uncompromising tone about the Arctic. “It cannot be ruled out that the battle for raw materials will be waged with military means,” the explosive document reads, according to a comprehensive analytical article in the German Magazine Der Spiegel on Thursday.
The planned upgrade of Storskog pass-control and customs facilities at the Norwegian Russian border gets governmental funding to start the reconstruction already this year.
The Russian and Finnish Ministries of Interior have agreed to strengthen control in border areas, where crimes within high technology and economics are on the rise.
Members of the Arkhangelsk regional parliament believe the regional 2009 budget might be cut with as much as 40 percent. That will have consequences for social spending in the northwest Russian region.
The impacts of less sea ice in polar areas are more crucial for global climate change then previously assumed. Oceanographer Cecilie Mauritzen says that research related to the International Polar Year (IPY) has proven that human activity has a major role in the reducing amount of sea ice in the Arctic.
Finland’s capacity to defend itself is better than ever, a Finnish military expert says. A new defence report, to be published in February, might recommend that the country’s armed forces team up with neighboring Norway and Sweden.
