Arctic News

[ombugge]

Ukraine war has reached the Arctic:

Ukrainian drone hit Tu-22M3 bomber at Olenya airfield, intel report claims

Forget about traditional WWII type of warfare, now a couple of guys in a van can bring a $1000 drone to carry out air attack 1800 km. away from home.

[ombugge]

Heatwave in Longyearbyen, Svalbard:

Longyearbyen sees first time ever above 20°C in August

But it is not only on Svalbard that it is warmer than usual. From Troms and Finnmark (Norway) Kola Peninsula (Russia) and Northern Lapland (Finland) it has been an unusually warm and dry summer, with wild fire warning issued since late June:

Kola wildfire smoke drift into Nordic neighbours

July was unusually warm in Finnish Lapland

It is not only locally that the effect of this rapid warming of the Arctic region is felt:

Warming climate changing CO2 balance in northern ecosystems

[ombugge]

Doomed Arctic LNG platform arrives in Gydan

[ombugge]

Svalbard residents on the boycott of Russia, climate change, and search for a...

Video:

Svalbard residents on the boycott of Russia, climate change, and search for a new energy source.

[ombugge]

The effect of the war in Ukraine is felt even in the Arctic:

Pilots fear flights will run low on fuel over sudden airspace closure

Well aware of the MH17 flight that was shot down by a Russian supported anti-aircraft missile over Ukraine in 2014, flight controllers are nowadays fast to order civilian aircraft to stay out of areas when air-defense systems are activated.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has reached the country’s own far northern region of Murmansk:

People in Murmansk are starting to ask about bomb shelters

“Our bomb shelters are in a terrible condition,” a woman complains.
“The question is how to find out where the bomb shelters are located!!! And where to run with the kids in case of emergency?” another woman writes.

Where to run with the kids in case of emergency?”

The bomb shelter in Apatity has seen better days. Photo: Violetta Grudina on Telegram

A basement in Severomorsk reportedly built as bomb shelter. Photo: VK page of Andrei Chibis

As Ukraine attacks in Kursk, the Russian Navy sets out to "liberate" Dudinka

In Dudinka, as if in a parallel reality, Navy sailors fight so-called enemy saboteurs. A carefully staged video shows how soldiers attack with speedboats and a helicopter, and troops and heavy machinery are put on the shore with landing ship Aleksandr Otrakovsky.
Северный флот провел учения по освобождению.. — Video | VK

[ombugge]

More Nordic cooperation needed to face a more aggressive Russia - ArcticToday

NATO’s renewed focus on the Arctic region, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has been beneficial to the Nordic countries, though it comes in response to a deteriorating security environment.
“It’s what we have been pushing for for a long time: to get more NATO attention, to get more U.S., British, French, and German attention to the Arctic or to the high north,” Østhagen said.
However, he cautioned that balancing the interests of larger NATO powers with those of smaller members, such as the Nordic countries, will be critical in maintaining a cautious and measured approach to Arctic security.
“The approach has always been cautious. It’s about finding the right balance between all these states,” Østhagen concluded.
As the region adapts to these new challenges, Nordic defense integration is expected to grow, with the two hoping that closer collaboration will provide an alternative to reliance solely on NATO or larger global powers like the U.S. and EU.

[ombugge]

The Ukraine war is getting closer to home:

Ukrainian drones are on the way. Murmansk again closes airspace

This week’s drone attacks come as the Russian Armed Forces hold a major exercise. The Ocean-24 includes a big number of ships, aircraft and navy sailors from the Northern Fleet. Included in the exercise are also strategic bombers based in Olenya.

War in the Arctic

The “High North, Low Tensions” era, naively proclaimed by Norway’s (then) foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre (now Prime Minister) in the late 2000s, is long gone. While Oslo and regional northern Norway in good faith tried to build multilateral trust and cooperation with Russia’s north, Vladimir Putin was already in full swing rearming the Kola Peninsula and especially the Northern Fleet.

Late October marks the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of Norway’s northeast corner from nazi-German occupation. Unlike the 70th and 75th anniversary there will be no joint celebrations this autumn. There are no common ground to lay wreaths. Putin’s conspiracy storytelling about fighting Nazism in Ukraine today, as a continuation of the war on Nazism from 1941-1945, has no root in reality.

[ombugge]

Svalbard-research becomes more important for China, professor says

China’s Polar Research Institute’s Yellow River Station in Ny-Ålesund has a spectacular view towards the glaciers across the waters in Kongfjorden north on Svalbard. At the entrance, two lion-sculptures are guarding. Photo: Thomas Nilsen*

Svalbard, however, is not the only location for Arctic cooperation. “It was discussed possibilities of implementing joint projects on board Russia’s drifting vessel North Pole,” the text says.
This summer is the fist time China has sent all its three icebreakers into Arctic waters, including the Xue Long 2 that made port call to Murmansk in August after crossing the Arctic from the Bering Strait to the Barents Sea.

[Tupsis]

While I may disagree whether the old Xue Long is an icebreaker or not, it is referred to as such in the media so it is worth noting that it did not sail to the Arctic this summer.

[ombugge]

The last European border crossing to/from Russia:

“If this route is closed, families would be torn apart”