Why the Ukraine war is also noticeable in Svalbard

Longyearbyen A Ukrainian flag drapes over a massive bust of Lenin at a restaurant in Spitsbergen. The bar Kroa in the polar town of Longyearbyen borrowed it from a local Ukrainian family after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, in order to hang it directly in front of the portrait of the Russian revolutionary leader behind the counter. The message is clear: “With this flag we are showing that we are completely against this war,” says restaurant manager Zandra Zadewasser.

The bust of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin has a story that is just as special as the coexistence of Norwegians and Russians on Svalbard itself. For decades they have been living and working together on the demilitarized archipelago in the far north of Norway.

This cooperation is put to the test by the Ukraine war, the people in Longyearbyen are faced with a difficult balancing act: Here the Norwegian-Russian coexistence, which has shaped life on Spitsbergen for so long – there the war, which made much of it impossible for moral reasons has made.

Longyearbyen is often referred to as the northernmost place on earth and, with around 2,400 inhabitants, is Spitsbergen’s main population center. The second largest settlement can be reached by driving a good hour west by snowmobile from here: This place is called Barentsburg, has about 350 inhabitants, lives mainly from coal mining – and is owned by a Russian state-owned company, the coal company Trust Arktikugol.

The bust of Lenin in the Kroa restaurant also comes from Barentsburg, as Zadewasser explains. When wood for the restaurant was brought to Longyearbyen before it opened a good 25 years ago, a Russian gift was included with the delivery.

Mining Rights

Mainland Norway and Russia have a border of almost 200 kilometers in the far north, but nowhere are they as close as on Svalbard. This coexistence is based on the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, which gave Norway sovereignty over the archipelago.

At the same time, the Scandinavians have had to ensure that other countries are allowed to do business locally – and that’s where Russia comes into play. The giant empire acquired the rights to mine Spitsbergen over a century ago. This resulted in a neighborly relationship that survived the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Until the Russian attack on Ukraine.

“Before 2022 we had a good relationship with the tourism company in Barentsburg,” says Ronny Brunvoll, head of Visit Svalbard tourism authority. “But when the war fully started on February 24 last year, it completely changed the situation.”

Some things – such as sporting comparison competitions and a church celebration for children at Orthodox Christmas – still took place recently. Other cooperations, on the other hand, have suffered severe cracks as a result of Russia’s war. Customs controls have also been introduced to prevent sanctions imposed on Russia from being circumvented.

Tourism as an economic engine

Especially in tourism, which is the main economic driver of the archipelago alongside coal mining, the mood can be described as the weather on the doorstep: freezing cold. Spitsbergen’s tourism industry has now severed all ties to Barentsburg, where the tourism company Grumant is a subsidiary of Arktikugol.

The once very popular snowmobile tours to the Russian Coal Settlement and other offerings associated with Russian state-owned companies have not been advertised or otherwise mentioned on Visit Svalbard since.

It is not forbidden to do tourism in Barentsburg or the Soviet ghost town of Pyramiden, says Brunvoll. “But most companies avoid going there. They think that’s wrong.”

They don’t want to meet the local people, but someone else in Moscow, almost 2,600 kilometers away: It’s Putin’s war, and Putin indirectly controls the company active in Barentsburg and its income. “In my view, the right thing to do is not to support warfare by supporting Russian activities here,” says Brunvoll.

Separate politics and business

In Barentsburg, on the other hand, they want politics and business to be separated. “Should we be punished just because we are Russians?” Grumant boss Tatyana Ageeva asked in an open letter last autumn before the decision to exclude the company from tourism.

She pointed out that the majority of Barentsburg residents are Ukrainians from Luhansk and Donetsk, who left Ukraine precisely because of the conflict. “We are for cohesion, development and cooperation,” she emphasized.

In fact, people from dozens of nations live on Svalbard. Many Germans live in Longyearbyen, but also numerous Russians and Ukrainians – including quite a few who left Barentsburg and Pyramiden after the outbreak of war.

Everyone in Longyearbyen agrees on the war, says a local Ukrainian shop assistant. Another resident reports, “If you’re a local Russian, you live here because you’re against the war.” Many of them supported jailed Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, she says.

hope for normality

The Ukraine war may seem far away on Spitsbergen but feels very close, as many people point out on the snowy streets of Longyearbyen.

The Norwegian secret service PST also keeps a close eye on the archipelago: “Any change or uncertainty about Norway’s policy in the far north will be of interest to Russian secret services,” wrote the PST in February in its national risk assessment for the year 2023.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:

Like many people in Longyearbyen, Brunvoll hopes that one day relations will return to normal. First of all, however, a solution is needed in Ukraine – then it will probably be many years before a trusting relationship with Russia can be restored.

“I hope that at some point Spitsbergen will be like it was before the war. But when and how? I can’t say that.” For the time being, the Ukraine flag in the Kroa restaurant will remain exactly where it has been hanging for a long time: Lenin right in front of the nose.

More: Don’t miss any developments in the Ukraine war – everything new in our news blog