EXTRAORDINARY – Serious Russia-Norway crisis: The Norwegians blocked Svalbard's supply – The battle for the Arctic Circle begins
New Russia-NATO front - Russia's démarche
29/06/2022 - 20:25
War News 24 / 7
Columnist: Vassilis Kapoulas
A serious crisis has erupted between Norway and Russia because of the blockade put by the Norwegian authorities on the supply of 500 Russian citizens of Svalbard. Mosha made a démarche, summoned the chargé d'affaires of Norway and warned.
The Russians speak of a much more difficult and worse situation than Kaliningrad. They say what Norway has done may lead to the revision of treaties as there are "doubts about Oslo's sovereignty over the archipelago"
The island complex of Svalbard and Jan Mayen is therefore very close to the north pole in the Arctic Circle and is about the same from the Pole as it is from the northern coast of Norway.
The crisis has been going on since April but in the last 58 hours it has escalated after the Norwegians refused to lift the blockade.
Until now, Russian cargoes were delivered starting from Murmansk, forwarded to the Norwegian port of Tromsø through the Storskog checkpoint, and then by sea to the Russian port of Barentsburg on the territory of the archipelago in Svalbard in which about 500 people live.
However, on 28 June, the Norwegian side banned the passage of goods through the Storskog checkpoint, on the grounds of Western sanctions. At the moment at the checkpoint there are about 20 tons of goods (including food), which are eagerly awaited by Russian residents living in Svalbard.
The battle for the Arctic Circle begins.
Norway: Blocked Svalbard's refueling
Norway recently rejected a Russian application for the passage of goods to the settlements in Svalbard through the only checkpoint at the Russian-Norwegian border Storskog.
This was broadcast by the NRK television channel citing the country's foreign ministry.
In April, the head of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, Anniken Huitfeldt, announced the closure of this point for trucks from Russia. In addition, Russian ships, with the exception of fishing vessels, were refused entry to the ports of Norway.
"The application for a transfer permit was rejected on June 15, 2022," the ministry said.
Russia's démarche and warning
Russia's Foreign Ministry announced today that it has summoned Norway's chargé d'affaires, accusing Oslo of blocking access to the Svalbard archipelago. Moscow threatened Norway with retaliation.
In particular, the Chargé d'Affaires of Norway, Solveig Rossebø, went to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russian Foreign Ministry has demanded that the Norwegian authorities resolve the issue of blocking supplies to Russian villages in Svalbard.
The Norwegian diplomat was informed that Oslo should solve the problem of cargo delivery for Russian citizens and organizations located in the Arctic archipelago as soon as possible.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation noted that blocking the delivery of goods for the FSUE State Trust Arktikugol operating in Svalbard is unacceptable.
"Unfriendly actions against Russia will inevitably lead to appropriate retaliatory measures," Moscow told Norway's spokesman.
The situation in Svalbard is more dangerous than the blockade of Kaliningrad
The relationship between Moscow and Oslo in this matter is regulated by legal documents of hundreds of years, according to which both parties can freely carry out economic activities in the archipelago.
According to Oleg Barabanov, a political scientist and program director of the Valdai International Discussion Club, such a ban on the part of Norway is more dangerous than Lithuania's corresponding move with Kaliningrad.
"If Norway continues to block the goods then it will not be possible to supply our villages by sea, unlike Kaliningrad. Therefore, the situation is much more complicated, and in the worst case scenario, Russian settlements will have to be restricted/abandoned," the expert noted.
At the same time, Norway, unlike Lithuania, is not part of the European Union, so Oslo is not bound by any obligation to comply with EU anti-Russian sanctions. Nevertheless, the Norwegian authorities are proceeding with a conscious boycott of bilateral agreements, thus putting russian citizens of the archipelago on the brink of survival.
The deputy director of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolai Osokin, emphasized.
"The main part of the cargo for our mining settlements in Svalbard (now there is only one, Barentsburg, the settlements of Piramida and Grumant have been reduced) is delivered by our ships from Murmansk and Arkhangelsk directly to the port of Barentsburg," says Nikolai Ivanovich. .
There is no prohibition on this. It's another thing when you have to deliver a small batch of goods. We can not charter a separate ship: it is expensive and inefficient. For this, another, land route through mainland Norway is provided.
It is activated if something urgently needs to be sent to the archipelago. Trucks with containers go from Murmansk, pass the Borisoglebsk customs office, which is located in the Pechenga region (the adjacent checkpoint is the Norwegian Storskog). And then they go to Tromso – a port city in the north of Norway, called the "Gateway to the Arctic". There, the containers are already loaded onto local, Norwegian ships, which take them to Svalbard. All this is done at the request of the Arktikugol trust.
Nikolai Osokin draws attention to the Treaty of Svalbard. The archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean has a special place. Russia, like Norway, has the right to operate here. The Russian part is a territory in West Svalbard, which covers an area of 251 square kilometers.
The EU has imposed sanctions. The transit of goods through Norway was restricted. I specifically looked at their documents just now, which clearly states that these bans should not apply to Svalbard.
Norway broke the agreement it signed with Russia in 2010
"The Norwegian authorities made a serious mistake by prohibiting Russia from delivering goods to Russian settlements located in Svalbard."
This is the conclusion reached by the well-known Russian political scientist Yuri Gorodenko.
Yuriy Gorodnenko drew attention to the fact that Norway decided to follow in the footsteps of Lithuania, establishing a blockade of Russian settlements located in Svalbard.
According to the political scientist, following in the footsteps of Lithuania, Norway has practically forgotten about the international treaties previously signed with the USSR and Russia. Such anti-Russian anti-Russian antics by the Norwegian authorities are unacceptable, as they can lead to dangerous international precedents.
"Sooner or later, the threat of a complete lockdown will have to be answered. And then we should remember that the Russia-Norway border treaty on the 2010 border is not absolute. Article 6 of this agreement states that the Treaty cannot change the fulfilment of the obligations arising from the Treaty of Svalbard. Otherwise, the agreement on state borders is terminated," the expert noted.
Gorodenko explained that Russia, in response to Norway's trick with the blockade of Russian settlements in Svalbard, is
able to implement unilateral measures aimed at revising the Paris Treaty, as well as the document "On the delimitation of maritime spaces and cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean."
The consequences of Norway's ban – The conditions...
But the vice-president of the Council of Federations Konstantin Kosachev also accused Oslo of violating the Svalbard Treaty of 1920.
The treaty established Norwegian sovereignty over this territory and gave the participating states, including Russia, the right to exploit the territorial waters of the archipelago and its natural resources.
In addition, in 1947, the Norwegian Parliament recognized that the USSR was a country that, along with it, had special economic interests in Svalbard. In 1991, these rights were transferred to Russia.
Andrei Klisas, President of the Federation Council's Constitutional Legislation Committee, for his part, said that the refusal to allow Russian cargo on Svalbard
"raises doubts about Oslo's sovereignty over the archipelago." Also, the authorities of the Russian Federation must guarantee their safety.
Klisas said that in modern conditions, sovereignty is not only
"the ability and right to exercise the fullness of state power in a particular territory," but also "the right and ability to guarantee and protect the rights of its citizens."
"Norway is not just violating the provisions of the 1920 treaty," commented Andrei Baklanov, vice-president of the Union of Russian Diplomats.
"In this case, we are also talking about a very understandable and important humanitarian aspect, about supplying almost 500 people. Therefore, the projection of certain things related to sanctions in the current situation seems absolutely far-fetched and absurd. Here, too, of course, we can say that all this is part of the mechanism of action of the West and, in particular, of the NATO countries in the northern direction.
Now Russia has two alternatives to the issue of the Arctic region in relation to overheating and the increase in the number of ships passing there: either we will follow the path of cooperation between countries,
or Western states will try to politicize the northern part to the maximum and create an environment of militarization there."
"Maintaining Russia's presence in Svalbard is a matter of principle," continues Andrei Baklanov. –
Now western countries are trying to put pressure on us in the northern region.
"The negotiation process will start now. If it leads to nothing, Russia will have to take tougher, perhaps even forceful steps, in order to safeguard the lives and health of our citizens. Can the Russian army deliver the appropriate humanitarian cargo so that our miners can feed themselves."
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EXTRAORDINARY - Serious Russia-Norway crisis: Norwegians blocked Svalbard's supply - Battle for the Arctic Circle began - WarNews247
