Atle Staalesen

Icy welcome for Aleksei Navalny in the Arctic "hell" of Kharp

"I would not want anyone to sit in that jail," a former inmate says of the far northern penal colony that now houses Russia's leading opposition politician.
December 27, 2023

Message to market: Russian Arctic LNG will not be delivered

Natural gas company Novatek has reportedly informed clients that it will not be able to deliver LNG from its new Arctic project as promised.
December 22, 2023

Russian military rocket created spectacular light show over Svalbard

The sky over the Norwegian Arctic archipelago was lit up by the military rocket that was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
December 22, 2023

Russia launched military rocket. It could be seen over northern Norway

A rocket carrying a space installation for the Russian Ministry of Defence was Thursday morning launched from the north Russian Plesetsk Space Center. It could be seen over the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes.
December 21, 2023

Who is 'Hero of Russia' Yevgeny Supakov?

I love to ride snowmobile, the 25 year old soldier from the remote Arctic region of Tazov writes on his social media profile. Yevgeny Supakov is one of several hundred men from far northern Russian villages fighting in Ukraine. This week, he was declared 'Hero of Russia' by Vladimir Putin.
December 20, 2023

Oilmen start building of underwater pipeline across the Yenisey

The 5,8 km long pipeline is key component of Vostok Oil, the biggest industrial project currently unfolding in the Russian Arctic.
December 19, 2023

Moscow sends warning to Finland

The Russian Foreign Ministry summons Finland's Ambassador following the Nordic country's signing of a Defence Cooperation Agreement with the USA.
December 19, 2023

New defence agreement: Finland invites American troops to bases in Lapland

The Border Guard Base in Ivalo is one of five northern sites highlighted in the new defence agreement between Finland and the USA. Not far away is Russia's heavily militarized Kola Peninsula.
December 18, 2023

First train crosses new bridge to western side of Kola Bay

It is a historical moment for Murmansk, regional governor Andrei Chibis underlined as Vladimir Putin declared the new infrastructure object for opened.
December 18, 2023

Chaotic on Finnish border as travellers rush to cross before closure

Huge lines and hours of waiting for the people trying to make it across the Russian-Finnish border ahead of today's indefinite closure. Among the travellers is also a big number of migrants without valid travel documents to Finland.
December 15, 2023

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Atle is journalist and Publisher of the Independent Barents Observer.

In 2002, he founded the Barents Observer. He was editor until 2009 and later worked as journalist and project coordinator for several European cross-border cooperation projects. In late 2015, following a conflict over editorial rights, he re-established the Barents Observer as an independent and non-profit stock company along with the rest of the newspaper crew.  

Atle has a degree in Russian studies from the University of Oslo and studied journalism at the Moscow State University.

atle@thebarentsobserver.com
@atlestaalesen