Russia accuses Norway of ignoring Svalbard deal

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has accused Norway of violating the principles of the 1920 Spitzbergen Treaty after it brought in new regulations allowing it to deport undesirable people staying on the Svalbard archipelago.

Published: 10 August 2015 23:20 CEST

Russia accuses Norway of ignoring Svalbard deal

Russian deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin during his visit in April.

The moved followed a provocative visit to Svalbard in April by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is banned from entering the European Union under the sanctions regime brought in following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Last Friday, Norway enacted new rules allowing it to report unwelcome Russian visitors.

“The Norwegian side’s actions do not conform to the spirit of international cooperation in Spitsbergen, based on the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920,” the Russian ministry said in its statement. “We strongly protest against this unfriendly step and demand the immediate revision of the imposed restrictions.”

The Russian government argued that under the 1920 treaty, Russians and Norwegians should have equal access to the islands.

The archipelago is located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, in an Arctic region that has become a geopolitical and economic hotspot as the ice melts and relations grow ever frostier between Russia and the West.

For €300 million ($326 million), interested parties can acquire the remote Sore Fagerfjord property in southwestern Svalbard.

Measuring 60 square kilometres (23 square miles) — about the size of Manhattan — the property is home to mountains, plains, a glacier and about five kilometres of coastline, but no infrastructure.

“It’s the last private land in Svalbard, and, to our knowledge, the last private land in the world’s High Arctic,” said lawyer Per Kyllingstad, who represents the sellers.

“The Chinese are naturally potential buyers since they’ve been showing a real interest in the Arctic and Svalbard for a long time,” he told AFP, adding that he had received “concrete signs of interest” from the country.

Special treaty

Since China’s 2018 white paper on the Arctic — a sign of its interest in the region — the country has defined itself a “near-Arctic state” and plans to play a growing role in the region.

Svalbard is governed by a 1920 international treaty that leaves ample room for foreign interests.

It recognises Norway’s sovereignty over Svalbard, but citizens of all signatories — including China — are equally entitled to exploit the region’s natural resources.

Russia, for example, has maintained a coal mining community on Svalbard, via the state-run company Trust Arktikugol, for decades.

But times have changed.

Keen to protect its sovereignty, Norway would not look kindly on the Sore Fagerfjord property falling into foreign hands.

Especially hands in China, which Norway’s intelligence services say poses the biggest security risk to the Scandinavian country after Russia.

Norway’s Attorney General has therefore ordered the owners — a company controlled by a Russian-born Norwegian, according to local media — to call off the planned sale.

“The land can’t be sold without the Norwegian authorities’ approval,” Trade and Industry Minister Cecilie Myrseth told AFP.

“Nor is it possible to hold negotiations about the property,” she added.

That argument is based on clauses of an old loan granted by the state in 1919. Kyllingstad insists the clauses’ statute of limitations has expired.