ARCTIC: US and EU Sanction Russia & more – 28th Oct 2025

Terve from BA! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 28th of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Last week we reported on the UK’s latest round of sanctions against Russia, and said they’d only be effective if the US and EU followed suit. Well, they joined in.

On Thursday the 23rd, the European Commission announced its nineteenth set of sanctions against Russia. This time, the EU is specifically targeting the gas industry operating from the Russian Arctic too, agreeing to a complete ban on gas imports to the EU.

On the same day, the US Treasury announced its own sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, freezing their assets and barring any US companies from doing business with them. This is the first time the US has imposed sanctions on Russia since Trump’s return to office in January, marking a significant change from the previously friendly stance between the two countries.

Thursday the 23rd was a busy day for the US government in the Arctic, as after issuing those sanctions, the Trump administration announced three projects which could change the face of Alaska for good.

Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the US Interior Department, declared that the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is now open for oil and gas drilling. Then, Burgum signed a series of permits to allow the construction of the Ambler Road project, a road stretching for over 200 miles, or about 340 kilometers, through Alaskan wilderness to expand mining opportunities. Finally, he signed documents to allow the King Cove road project to begin, which will build a road through a sensitive bird sanctuary to connect the town of King Cove with its nearest airport.

These projects are set to open Alaska up to industry like never before, but at real risk to the Arctic environment.

Russia agrees that the Arctic is full of untapped natural wealth that needs to be extracted. On Friday the 24th, the press service of Russia’s Eastern State Planning Center said that the Arctic is of great importance to Russia, largely due to the value of the region’s energy reserves, which it places at 3.6 trillion US dollars. The press service estimates that over half of the Arctic’s oil and gas reserves are located in Russia, and that in order to grow the north’s economy, Russia must use the natural resources still beneath the ground.

Greenland is also growing its own natural resource economy. On Wednesday the 22nd, the investment fund of Denmark announced it has loaned about $6 million US dollars to the Amitsoq graphite mine in southern Greenland, to restart production at a mine that last operated in nineteen twenty-two.

This loan comes as the EU has listed graphite as a critical raw material for renewable energy development, and European nations look toward Greenland for its huge untapped deposits of everything from graphite to uranium.

With all the new developments changing the Arctic every day, it is important not to forget the rich history of Arctic settlers. On Tuesday the 21st, Canadian broadcaster CBC reported that a rare Inuit kayak that has been locked away in the vaults of the Vatican Museum for decades is on its way home. This is one of the only five surviving traditional seal-skin kayaks in the world.

Canadian Indigenous groups have been negotiating with the Vatican and expect to have the vessel closer to home by the end of the year. The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, has agreed to take the kayak initially and work with Inuit representatives to decide on a permanent home for this piece of Arctic history.

There are other negotiations taking place in Canada as well, but this time over Arctic defense. On Tuesday the 21st, the German and Norwegian Defense Ministers announced they have been in discussions with the Canadian government over a joint agreement to build a new fleet of submarines together to protect northern Europe and Canada. The three countries wish to build sixteen new submarines over the next decade.

Norway’s military has a lot to handle this week. As exclusively reported by Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Thursday the 23rd, the state-owned Kongsberg Gruppen, Norway's largest arms manufacturer, has been selling arms to Russia via a third party for over a decade. These arms have been deployed heavily in the Barents Sea, the Arctic maritime border between Europe and Russia.

With Norwegian law stating that no arms sales must end up being used against Norway, this investigation raises serious concerns over the security status of Kongsberg Gruppen, and whether they knew they were earning millions of dollars by selling arms to a Russian military that is continuing to threaten Norway.

To read the investigation, check out the link in the show notes.

The need to combat the Russian military in the Arctic was made very clear on Sunday the 26th when the newspaper, The Telegraph, interviewed Tore Sandvik, the Norwegian Defense Minister. Sandvik said that Russia is amassing nuclear weapons and submarines in the Arctic Circle as it prepares for war with NATO.

While Russia’s war in Ukraine has devoured heavy amounts of resources, the Russian military’s Northern Fleet has been expanded and modernized in recent years.

The Kola Peninsula, next to Norway, is now home to the largest concentration of nuclear missiles in the world, which Sandvik believes are currently aimed at the UK, Canada and the US.

Let’s go over to Finland, where a new animal might just be taking the crown as the country’s national animal. As reported by Finnish broadcaster, YLE news, on Thursday the 23rd, the director of the Savo region wants to replace the brown bear with the Saimaa seal as the country’s official animal.

The brown bear was voted into the role in nineteen eighty-five, but, as we have covered in previous shows, the Saimaa seal is the only animal in Finland to live nowhere else in the world, and received genetic confirmation of its status as a brand new species earlier this year. The hope is that this endangered seal can become a symbol of Finland’s uniqueness and receive key conservation support while doing so.

Not all new animal discoveries in the Arctic have been good news. On Tuesday the 21st, the Natural Science Institute of Iceland reported that mosquitoes have been found in Iceland for the first time as the warming north makes the country more hospitable for insects.

Iceland was previously one of the two areas on Earth that could brag about having none of the biting insects, with the other being the Antarctic. But with Iceland no longer a frozen island, mosquitoes can now survive even through an Icelandic winter. The Natural Science Institute will now need to monitor the insects to see just how they impact the entire Icelandic ecosystem.

And to close this edition, elsewhere in Iceland, we look to the conclusion of the biggest international conference in the Arctic. As covered by Dr Mia Bennett in her brilliant Arctic blog, Cryopolitics, on Tuesday the 21st, The Arctic Circle conference in Reykjavik has ended and underwhelmed.

The conference, which once saw guest speakers ranging from heads of state to UN Secretaries-General, could only attract minimal attention. The top-billed speech was delivered by Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan, who recounted brief visits to the Canadian Arctic decades ago.

Dr Bennett writes that international interest in the Arctic region may be on the downwards, but hopes that twenty twenty-six sees a greater desire to protect the north.

To read her piece yourself, take a look at the link in the show notes.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Did you know that we talk about many places besides the Arctic? We’ve got nine country updates! We also have two more non-sovereign shows, about the Ocean and Multilateral organizations. Interested? Check out the link in the show notes. Got any feedback? You know where to contact us.

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