Alexander Stubb, famous in the Barents Region for branding the north as the world´s most sexy region, is put on track to take over after Jyrki Katainen.
The treaty on the delimitation of the Barents Sea will be ratified by the Russian State Duma in March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirms to his Norwegian counterpart.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg shared a Barents Sea cake with the border residents and promises full speed ahead with seismic activity from day one when the maritime border treaty comes into effect on July 7.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has threatened Arkhangelsk Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk with dismissal because of problems in the public utilities sector.
Russian diplomat Alexander Ignatiev has finished his four years as head of the International Barents Secretariat. Ari Siren from Finland is the new head.
For a couple of days the Russian Government is ruled from the small village of Umba on the Kola Peninsula, where Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is on holiday together with his family.
“I think it would have been a significant strengthening of our cooperation with Russia if we once or twice a year had fixed meeting points with Russia, the Federation Council and State Duma,” says Morten Høglund, head of the Norwegian Parliament’s delegation for Arctic parliamentary cooperation.
“…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.
The Working Group of Indigenous Peoples in the Barents Region halts all activities due to lack of funding. The decision was taken one day after the Prime Ministers praised the Indigenous Peoples work at the Barents Summit.
