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☆ Russia Suspends Annual Payments to Arctic Council, RIA Agency Reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

(Reuters) - Russia has suspended annual payments to the Arctic Council until "real work" resumes with the participation of all member countries, Russia's RIA state news agency reported, citing the country's foreign ministry. "At the moment, Russia's payment of annual contributions to the budget of the Arctic Council has been suspended until the resumption of real work in this format with the participation of all member countries," the ministry told RIA. Cooperation between the Western Arctic states of the intergovernmental body and Moscow came to a freeze after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. The Arctic Council was created in 1996 to discuss issues affecting the polar region, ranging from pollution to local economic development to search-and-rescue missions. For now, Russia does not consider leaving the Council, the foreign ministry told RIA.

Persons: Maria Zakharova, Lidia Kelly, Jacqueline Wong, Stephen Coates Organizations: Reuters, Arctic Council, RIA, Cooperation, Arctic, Council, TASS, Duma, Organization for Security Locations: Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, United States, Melbourne

[1/3] A scientist drives his snowmobile across an icefield of the arctic near Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the opening of the station, in Tromsoe, northern Norway, in June, as a means for the US to have a "diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle", he said. Tromsoe is the largest city in Arctic Norway, located about 400km (250 miles) to the west of Russia. Tromsoe is also the seat of the Arctic Council, a polar body comprising the eight Arctic states of Russia, the US, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Cooperation within the Arctic Council between Moscow and the Western Arctic states was put on hold after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Persons: Lisi Niesner, Antony Blinken, Andreas Oesthagen, Washington, Tromsoe, Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Reuters, Arctic Council, Cooperation, Thomson Locations: Ny, Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, Rights OSLO, United States, Washington, Ukraine, Tromsoe, Oslo, Arctic Norway, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Moscow

☆ U.S. Opens Its Northernmost Diplomatic Station, in Arctic Norway
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Oct. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the opening of the station, in Tromsoe, northern Norway, in June, as a means for the US to have a "diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle", he said. Tromsoe is the largest city in Arctic Norway, located about 400km (250 miles) to the west of Russia. Norway and Russia share a border in the Arctic. Tromsoe is also the seat of the Arctic Council, a polar body comprising the eight Arctic states of Russia, the US, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Cooperation within the Arctic Council between Moscow and the Western Arctic states was put on hold after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Andreas Oesthagen, Washington, Tromsoe, Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Reuters, Arctic Council, Cooperation Locations: Fouche OSLO, United States, Washington, Ukraine, Tromsoe, Norway, Oslo, Arctic Norway, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Moscow

Two shopping centers promptly sprang up to serve Russians looking for Western clothing, gifts, disposable diapers and alcohol. “It was a local, regional and national strategy to focus on turning toward Russia,” Mr. Roine said. More than 266,000 people from Russia crossed the nearby border station into Norway in 2019; last year, that number fell by more than 75 percent. For decades, the vast amounts of cod in the Barents Sea — home to one of the world’s last surviving stocks of the fish — have drawn people and businesses from both countries to this Arctic Circle community. Kirkenes’s most important industrial employer is Kimek, a shipbuilding company that has prospered by repairing commercial fishing boats known as trawlers, especially the Russian ones.

Persons: Russia ’, ” Mr, Roine Organizations: Arctic Council Locations: Russia, Soviet Union, Norway, Kirkenes

OSLO, June 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. will open its northernmost diplomatic station in the Norwegian Arctic town of Tromsoe, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, at a time when cooperation among the Arctic nations has been hit by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "For us, the presence post in Tromsoe is really an ability to have a diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle," he said. It comprises the eight Arctic states of Russia, the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Cooperation between the Western Arctic states and Moscow on the Arctic body is frozen since the invasion of Ukraine. "Our entire approach is to make sure that the Arctic remains an area of peaceful cooperation," he said.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Sriraj Kalluvila, Mark Potter Organizations: Arctic Council, Cooperation, Thomson Locations: OSLO, U.S, Norwegian, Tromsoe, Ukraine, United States, American, Oslo, Norway, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Moscow

The discord between Russia and the other Arctic Council members means that an effective response to these changes is far less likely. Recently, it has taken steps to expand cooperation in the Arctic with non-Arctic states. On April 24, Russia and China signed a memorandum establishing cooperation between the countries' coast guards in the Arctic. "We need to safeguard the Arctic Council as the most important international forum for Arctic cooperation and make sure it survives," Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Eivind Vad Petersson told Reuters. "I don't see an Arctic Council without Russia in the future," said Larsen, a Greenland lawmaker at the Danish Parliament and the Chair of Arctic Parliamentarians, a body including MPs from across the Arctic countries.

OSLO, April 13 (Reuters) - Norway is expelling 15 Russian embassy officials that the foreign ministry said on Thursday were intelligence officers operating under the cover of diplomatic positions, a move which Moscow said it would respond to. The expulsions amount to a quarter of Russian diplomats currently accredited in Oslo, the Norwegian government said. It is the latest instance of a Western nation expelling Russian diplomats since the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. So far this year, Estonia, the Netherlands and Austria have also expelled Russian diplomats. The Nordic country still seeks to maintain normal diplomatic relations with Russia, and Russian diplomats are welcome in Norway, Huitfeldt said.

The Arctic Council was created in 1996 to discuss issues affecting the polar region, ranging from pollution to local economic development to search-and-rescue missions. The Arctic Council comprises the eight Arctic states of Russia, the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Russia's possible degree of involvement with the Council once Norway takes over is still unclear. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier extended an invitation to Arctic officials to attend a transition ceremony in Salekhard, Siberia. Russian Arctic Ambassador Nikolay Korchunov, chair of the Senior Arctic Officials on the council, told Reuters the transition would "presuppose active and responsible participation of all Arctic Council member states in this preparatory process."

Over recent years, NATO allies and Russia have scaled up military exercises in the region; Chinese and Russian warships conducted a joint exercise in the Bering Sea in September. Four Arctic experts say it would take the West at least 10 years to catch up with Russia's military in the region, if it chose to do so. "NATO is increasing its presence in the Arctic with more modern capabilities," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters. Now NATO and Arctic allies are changing their stance. Sweden and Finland have begun investing in surveillance and deterrence capabilities and military hardware including jets so their air forces can fight alongside Arctic NATO allies.

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