Svalbard is indisputably remote as well as cold, but the archipelago is strategically positioned, and Russia could well decide to use it as a test case — which means it’s time we start keeping a closer eye on Svalbard.
Svalbard, or Spitsbergen as it’s also known, has been inhabited by humans ever since whalers discovered the archipelago in the 1600s. And after coal was discovered there in the late 1800s, the islands’ attractiveness grew further. In fact, it grew so much that the world’s nations had to decide which country Svalbard should belong to, and the winner was, unsurprisingly, Norway — the country located closest to it (though 930 kilometers is some distance away).
In the Svalbard Treaty — which was signed by Norway, the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, Japan and a small number of other countries in 1920 — Norway was awarded the archipelago, and in exchange, it promised to allow citizens and companies from the other signatory countries to live, work and operate there. It also promised not to militarize Svalbard.
The Soviet Union signed the treaty in 1935 and proceeded to organize a Soviet presence centered around the coal mines it ran there. In fact, the Soviets built a model village that functioned like a mini-Soviet Union until 1998, when Russia’s Arktikugol closed its Svalbard mines and the company town Pyramiden was hastily abandoned. (To this day, Pyramiden is a ghost town that looks pretty much the same way it did in 1988.)
But Russia didn’t completely leave Svalbard.
Rather, in recent years, Russian officials and other representatives have been conducting various manifestations on the archipelago. For example, in 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin — who had been sanctioned by the West — landed on Svalbard without Norway’s permission and proceeded to mock Norwegians on social media. Then, on May 9 2023, Russians conducted a military-style Victory Day parade led by their consul general, the Barents Observer reported. Last year, Arktikugol’s director and others planted Soviet flags in Pyramiden.