The Russian deputy prime minister in charge of Far Eastern and Arctic affairs on the 13th of February sent a thinly veiled threat to Norway for its management of the Svalbard archipelago.
In a meeting in the so-called Government Commission on the Protection of Russian Presence at Spitsbergen, Trutnev signalled that Russian rights in the Norwegian archipelago are under pressure. […]
It is far from the first time that Russia threatens Norway over its Svalbard policy. The far northern archipelago has repeatedly been in the spotlight of Moscow hardliners and in connection with the 100-year’s anniversary of the Svalbard Treaty in 2020, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that Oslo engages in “bilateral consultations” over the management of the islands. The rejection of the Norwegian government was followed by a targeted information offensive from Moscow. […]
Norway has full sovereignty over the archipelago in accordance with the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, and individuals and companies from signatory states are allowed to engage in economic activity. Russians have since the 1930s run coal mines in the area. Läs artikel