– We feel that we have no real access to Russian sea areas, says Ole Arvid Misund. He is director of the Norwegian Polar Institute. In 2015, Norwegian polar bear researchers at the Polar Institute were denied access by the Russian authorities to investigate the polar bear population in Russian Franz Josef Land. Since then, the Polar Institute in Tromsø has given up access to Russian sea areas. Norwegian marine researchers tell news that they are banned from conducting research in Russian sea areas. Other marine research environments experience strong limitations. At the same time, Russian research expeditions are routinely approved by the Norwegian authorities. Leader of the foreign affairs committee, Ine Eriksen Søreide, believes the Russian measures are “unreasonable”. Both on Franz Josef Land and on Novaya Semlja, the Russian Defense Force has established military installations. Photo: Vadim Savitsky / Vadim Savitsky Greater restrictions on Norwegian voyages While the Norwegian authorities content themselves with denying Russian research ships access to Norwegian ports, Norwegian researchers must accept a far stricter regime if they want to do research in Russian sea areas. Among other things, the Russian authorities demand that Norwegian vessels provide accommodation, board and lodging to a representative from the Russian Ministry of Defence, according to insights news has had. These are the Russian restrictions: The Norwegian vessel must meet the following requirements in order to cross the maritime border into Russian waters: Accommodation and full provision of: A representative from the Russian Ministry of Defense A representative of a Russian research organization Who must have: Full access to equipment and technical means to determine their compliance with information specified in the application. Full access to all data and samples collected during the research. Other restrictions: The vessel must keep a distance of 50 nautical miles from Novaja Semlja and Franz Josef Land. Surveys must not be carried out closer than 25 meters from the seabed in Russian sea areas. Source: Access to notes from the Russian embassy on the application for a research trip. Confirmed in protocol in the Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission. Misund believes that these are unacceptable demands: – It would be completely out of the question for the Russian defense to have access to our technical equipment, says Ole Arvid Misund. In addition, vessels must keep a distance of 50 nautical miles from Novalja Zemjla and Franz Josef Land. Misund believes that the refusal to count polar bears on Franz Josef Land, and the demand for a distance of 50 nautical miles from Novaja Semlja, may be about protecting military installations in the Arctic. Norwegian authorities have so far been content to deny Russian research vessels access to Norwegian ports in Norway and Svalbard. Russian research program in Norwegian sea areas Several Russian ships have applied to gain access to Norwegian sea areas in 2023. – Pure scientific marine research must normally be granted consent, writes communications advisor Guri Solberg from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in an email to news. Russian research cruises in Norwegian sea areas: Photo: Roshydromet Several Russian ships have applied to gain access to Norwegian sea areas in 2023. “Akademik Mstislav Keldysh” has applied to examine the seabed 12 nautical miles off the coast of Finnmark. Investigation areas cover, among other things, the seabed around the Snøhvit field, which supplies Germany with LNG gas. “Dalniye Zalentsy” has applied for two research trips; one voyage that crossed into Norwegian waters, partly on the Norwegian side of the maritime border between Norway and Russia. “North Pole” / “Severny Polyus” is frozen in the ice at the North Pole and has applied to drift into the Svalbard zone, north of the archipelago, from June. In June, a Russian citizen was transported out by helicopter by the Governor of Svalbard. “Vilnius” has applied for and received access to parts of the Svalbard zone. The access was negotiated as part of the research program of the Norwegian-Russian fisheries agreement for the Barents Sea. For the third year in a row, “Professor Moltsjanov” will collect sediment samples around Svalbard to look for seabed minerals. At the beginning of June, “Professor Moltsjanov” was granted a research trip to look for seabed minerals east of Svalbard. The trip is financed, among other things, by the Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel. This is despite the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells news that such mapping of minerals and resources can be refused: – The coastal state can, at its own discretion, withhold its consent to voyages that are of direct importance for the investigation of and extraction of natural resources, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2023, no Norwegian research environments applied for access to Russian sea areas. Gaining access – not searching In 2016, the Institute of Marine Research experienced that the Russian authorities stopped a planned marine research cruise into Russian areas, which was supposed to survey the fish stocks on the Russian side. The refusal from the Russian authorities came without any justification, said Harald Gjøsæter, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Research, to news in 2016. – When we now do not receive a single justification, we do not know what is behind it, whether this is a practical matter or whether it is ill will, said Gjøsæter. Head of research at the Institute of Marine Research, Geir Huse, says no Norwegian voyage has been carried out in Norwegian sea areas for several years. Photo: Erlend Astad Lorentzen In 2022, the Institute of Marine Research would carry out cruises in Russian waters to count whales with the vessel “Stålbas”. Even then they were refused by the Russian authorities. This year, the Institute of Marine Research has not applied for access to Russian sea areas. – Research trips in Russian sea areas have not been relevant for us in recent years, says director of research at the Institute of Marine Research, Geir Huse to news. He also believes that certain demands from the Russian side create problems for the execution of the cruises. – Such requirements take more time, because we have to call at Murmansk on the way to and from the cruise area. We would have liked to avoid this, but we have chosen to accept it, says Huse. Ine Eriksen Søreide chairs the defense and foreign affairs committee at the Storting. She was foreign minister from 2013 to 2017. Photo: Ismail Burak Akkan / n649101 Søreide: – Restrictions should be reciprocated Chair of the foreign affairs and defense committee in the Storting, Ine Eriksen Søreide (H), believes Norway should introduce the same type of restrictions against Russian marine research environments, as Russia introduced against Norway in 2018. – The normal thing in such situations is to retaliate against these types of measures. It is a way of signaling that one does not accept such restrictions or unreasonableness, which I think this is, she says to news. She believes that the restrictions open the way for Norway to be far more restrictive in approving Russian applications for research in Norwegian sea areas: – If not, it must mean that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the Russian restrictions violate the law of the sea? The fisheries agreement between Norway and Russia signed in 2018. There, the Russian authorities confirmed the requirements they set for Norwegian research trips in Russian sea areas. Photo: Øyvind Berge Sæbjørnsen / news Will not impose the same restrictions The Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes they have secured access to Russian sea areas for Norwegian researchers. – During the meetings of the Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission, annual voyage plans are discussed and agreed between the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and the Russian Institute of Marine Research, in Norwegian and Russian waters respectively, writes Guri Solberg. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells news that they believe there is no basis in the law of the sea to impose the same restrictions on Norwegian vessels, as the Russian authorities have set as a requirement for Norwegian marine research environments. – We assess on a case-by-case basis the extent to which there is a need for, and the law of the sea allows for, imposing restrictions on Russian research cruises. Several Russian research cruises have either been completed or are on the way in 2023. Thinks Russian research cruises should be stopped Ine Eriksen Søreide believes that the application for a Russian research cruise in Norwegian sea areas should be rejected. – I have meant that about previous trips that have been carried out, after the invasion of Ukraine in 2021, she says. In particular, Russian research trips close to Norwegian gas and oil installations, Søreide believes, should be rejected: – The Russians want to operate in areas where Norway is extra vulnerable, with a lot of critical infrastructure. This in itself is an argument for saying no, points out Søreide. State Secretary Eivind Vad Petersson (Ap) responds to the criticism from Søreide: – I can hardly imagine that she would have thought the same if she was in the position and with the responsibility. In order to safeguard Norway’s security and Norwegian interests, we must be able to think further than one step at a time, he tells news. Ole Arvid Misund is director at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news – Lack of overview of developments in the ecosystems Ole Arvid Misund emphasizes that the Norwegian authorities are aware that the Polar Institute feels that they do not have access to Russian sea areas. – We have explained this in detail in meetings with both the Ministry of Climate and the Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He believes the Norwegian authorities must address the situation where Norwegian marine research environments do not have access to Russian sea areas. – We have a great need for insight into how the ecosystems in the Arctic are developing, also on the Russian side of the Arctic Ocean, says Misund.
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While Russian researchers get yes – Norwegian marine research is denied access – news Troms and Finnmark
