ARCTIC: Russia’s Economic Struggles & more – 10th Sep 2024

Góðan daginn from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 10th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Russia’s economic struggles continue to take their toll on the country’s development ambitions. On Wednesday the 4th, the Interfax news agency said that the Russian state energy company Gazprom is postponing several major offshore exploration projects in the Arctic. According to the financial group Russian Accounting Standards, last year Gazprom reported its first net loss in three decades, losing about $7 billion US dollars. Now, the company is losing almost $300 million US dollars per day. The impact of sanctions and the inability to sign a trade deal with China have stalled Russia’s vast Arctic ambitions.

Economic sanctions against Russia have been working and the US isn’t stopping any time soon. On Thursday the 5th, the US State Department announced it is imposing additional sanctions to specifically target two entities and two vessels connected to Russia’s Arctic LNG2 project. In recent weeks, a number of foreign vessels have been seen attempting to secretly travel through the Arctic Ocean to assist Russia in trading natural gas internationally. It is these vessels and their owners that are subjected to new US economic sanctions, along with several Russian-based companies involved in the development of future Arctic energy projects.

Even though Russia is struggling economically, the Russian government still plans to invest heavily in developing its Arctic. According to a government press release issued on Thursday the 5th, Vladimir Putin spoke at an Economic Forum and announced his government is investing over a billion US dollars to create a series of new cities across the Russian north. The government’s plan aims to kickstart population growth and economic development in the Arctic in order to support the oil and gas industry, which is so valuable to Russia.

In more news about Russia, journalist Ben Taub reported on espionage on the Arctic border of Norway and Russia, which focused on preparations for a nuclear conflict. In his piece, he talks about his experience in the Arctic and how Russia has been using the town of Kirkenes in Norway as a laboratory to test intelligence operations, which then the country used across Europe. Taub also mentions what’s going on on the other side of the border, in the Kola Peninsula, which has nuclear weapons storage facilities and nuclear submarine ports. To read Taub’s analysis, check out the link in the show notes!

Finland, Sweden, and Norway are all struggling to develop their northern regions. On Wednesday the 4th, at the Arctic Frontiers Abroad Conference, Andrey Mineev, a Researcher at the High North Center for Business, outlined the core issues facing the region. He revealed that many major cities across Europe’s Arctic are facing a significant population decline in the number of working-age people. Mineev believes the Arctic still relies on traditional industries such as mining, and —to retain and grow a younger demographic— the region will need to embrace its potential for renewable energy and technological innovation

On Friday the 6th, Mike Dunleavy, Alaska’s Governor, signed a series of healthcare bills into law. The most impactful law is Senate Bill forty-five, which cuts out the need for health insurance to be involved in routine medical appointments. Instead, a flat fee will be paid directly to the patient’s provider. The goal of the bill is to reduce the administrative burden for doctors and patients and remove financial barriers to accessing routine healthcare.

It wasn’t all positive healthcare news in Alaska. On Wednesday the 4th, Dunleavy vetoed a bill that would have made birth control more accessible to Alaskan women. House Bill seventeen purported to allow women to get a year’s worth of prescription medication at once, rather than the current limit of ninety days. The bill passed both the State House and Senate with bipartisan support but Governor Dunleavy refused to sign the bill into law, writing a letter describing the bill as bad policy without explaining why he believed this.

Alaskan women could still celebrate legal success when on Wednesday the 4th, a state Superior Court judge ruled that abortions can be performed by any qualified medical clinician. Since nineteen seventy, Alaskan law had stated that only licensed physicians were allowed to perform abortions in the state but in twenty nineteen Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the state government. The ruling states that the current law violates the state constitution’s equal protection and privacy guarantees. The Alaska Department of Law told news agency The Alaska Beacon on the 4th that they are considering an appeal against this ruling.

Finland is reckoning with its own legal battle for human rights. In a normal Finnish summer, Thai migrants travel to Finland to pick berries. But this year, after allegations of human rights abuses, the berry industry was put on hold before a working rights agreement was made. However, on Tuesday the 3rd, Finnish news agency YLE reported that the trial of two people charged with human trafficking berry pickers into Finland began in a court in Lapland. The defendants are the CEO of one of the berry companies, and his Thai business partner, who allegedly overcharged migrants to indebt them to their company and force them into labor. The trial is expected to take six months and could lead to prison sentences of up to four years.

In Sweden, a significant legal development unfolded on Thursday the 5th as the CEO of Viscaria, a mining company operating in northern Sweden, announced a compensation agreement with the Laevas Sami community. The Laevas Sami have been blocking Viscaria’s copper mine operations to protest the disruption to their reindeer herding. The deal will see the parties working together to improve the opportunities for both mining and reindeer herding in the Viscaria area, while compensating the Sami for any disruption to their environment. The agreement extends over the next fifteen years and will hopefully allow modern and Indigenous Sweden to progress side by side.

On that note about Indigenous communities, according to the Kitikmeot Heritage Society, on Friday the 6th, the Inuit of Cambridge Bay in Canada held an opening ceremony for their new cultural center. The Kuugalaaq center has been in development for eight years and now Inuit around Nunavut have a place to share traditional skills such as how to prepare meat. In addition to teaching the youngest generation traditional knowledge, Kuugalaaq will hold a training program for new elders to ensure the Inuit of Nunavut have a secure future.

Over in Norway, the otter is making a remarkable comeback. The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research reported on Friday the 6th that otter populations are thriving after nearly going extinct in the nineteen eighties due to excessive hunting. Native to Norway, otters were almost replaced by North American mink introduced by fur farmers, which wreaked havoc on local bird populations. Reintroduced otters in northern Norway have since outcompeted the mink, leading to a decline in the invasive species. The Institute’s report confirms that as otters reclaim their habitats, local environments are improving, and seabird populations are recovering from the ecological disruption caused by the mink.

However, some Arctic animals aren’t recovering. In a scientific study published on Thursday the 5th by the University of Gdańsk, a team of scientists has been tracking the population health of the little auk in western Greenland. According to the study, the little auk spends its life both on land and sea, so it is crucial to moving biological matter across the Arctic. Yet the once thriving population of over 12 thousand birds in the nineteen seventies has plummeted to only about fifty birds today. Even though the exact cause of this decline is unknown, the study believes that climate change is hurting the main food source of the little auk, and there is a chance this small but important bird will soon disappear entirely from western Greenland.

To learn more about why the little auk is so important to the Arctic, follow the link in the show notes.

Finally, let’s head over to Iceland for a rare football achievement. On Wednesday the 4th, the European Football Association announced the nominations for the Ballon d’Or, the most prestigious individual award in football. Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, the captain of Bayern Munich and her national team, was the first Icelander ever to be nominated for the award. While the Spanish playmaker, Aitana Bonmati, is the favorite to win the award, Viggósdóttir’s nomination shows that Iceland is on its way up in world football.

And that’s it for this week!

Thanks for tuning into the Rorshok Artic Update. You can find us on your Spotify, Apple podcasts and all the other platforms as the Rorshok Arctic Update.

Adjo