Russia brings its own “police” car to Svalbard
Moscow's man in Barentsburg is again testing grey zones in Norway's Svalbard regulations. This time by unveiling a vehicle that is almost identical to police cars in Russia. "Aimed at provoking reactions," says an expert.
Norway’s Criminal Code §165 bans the use of foreign marks or designs that pretends to be, or easily can be confused with, a public authority.
Arktikugol’s new car is identical to Russian police cars; white with the distinct blue line on the side. No one other than the national law enforcement agencies operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) are allowed to buy vehicles with this design in Russia.
The only visible difference is the name in the blue line, Politsiya (Police) is replaced with Administratsiya (Administration). Even the fonts are the same. On the roof, blue emergency lights have been replaced with what appears to be red and white lights.
Arktikugol, the state-owned company that runs all Moscow's businesses on Svalbard, has not replied to questions from the Barents Observer about the look-alike police car. The Kremlin's perverted laws make it illegal for Russian citizens to give interviews with a media branded as an 'undesirable organisation' by the same repressive authorities.
In a post on VKontakte, the company said the delivery of new cars to Barentsburg will "provide the mining service with modern all-wheel drive vehicles."
Police car or not, this follows a pattern, says professor of Russian history, Kari Aga Myklebost at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. She has studied Moscow's provocative use of hybrid operations on Svalbard for years.
"Arktikugol is deliberately staging a grey zone situation aimed at provoking reactions and testing how Norwegian authorities will handle the situation," Myklebost says.
She points to the text on the side of the car which clearly says it belongs to the Administratsiya, although the rest of the design tells people that it is a law enforcement vehicle.
"It can be argued that no law is violated while at the same time the borders of Norwegian regulations are obviously being tested."
The professor explains that such situations aim to put Norwegian authorities in a delicate position, where a harsh reaction will make way for Russian accusations of discrimination and Russophobia.
"In this case, such accusations are not unlikely, as Norway has recently acquired police cars for use in Longyearbyen," Myklebost says.
The Governor of Svalbard, Lars Fause, is unwilling to pass explicit judgement on the new police look-alike car, but says all vehicles used on Svalbard have to follow the Norwegian Road Traffic Act, including the Vehicle Regulations.
"From time to time we conduct traffic controls in Barentsburg. There are several examples that such controls have resulted in the removal of license plates and prosecutorial response," says Fause.
The Governor, who has police authority on Svalbard, emphasisis that not all regulations in force on the mainland are valid on the Arctic archipelago.
"If violations of the rules are discovered, each individual case will be followed up specifically and in accordance with general legal principles, i.e. legally, factually, objectively and correctly," Lars Fause says.
"We cannot say anything more about this here and now."
The Governor's office confirms that all vehicles driving on the roads on Svalbard must carry the archipelago's special license plates, black with yellow letters.
Judging from the photos posted on social media by Trust Arktikugol from Barentsburg, the administration's look-alike police car does not have valid registration plates.
Both a photo from this spring, and the photo from this week, show that the car has white home-made registration plates.
