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Russia on Svalbard

Radio Maya in Barentsburg stops FM broadcasts without Nkom permit

Svalbard WirePublished 20 OctoberSummary of the article by High North News.

Barentsburg mining settlement seen from the harbour, with a coal loading area, cranes and small boats at the waterfront.
Barentsburg seen from the harbour, with cranes and boats at the waterfront. File picture, August 2012. Photo: Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0 no, Wikimedia Commons.

Radio Maya, a Russian station in Barentsburg, has stopped its FM broadcasts after Norwegian authorities found it had no permit to transmit on that band. Trust Arktikugol, the Russian state-owned mining company, started Radio Maya on 17 April. Trust Arktikugol called the station the first local Russian-language station in Barentsburg in modern times.

Radio Maya also relayed Europa Plus and Radio Gordost, which began in 2024 with backing from a Russian presidential cultural fund and calls itself patriotic. In March, a month before the launch, the company's general director, Ildar Neverov, informed Sysselmesteren (the Governor of Svalbard) of the plan.

The Governor replied that the company had to contact Nkom, the responsible authority. In July the Governor contacted the company again and asked whether Nkom had approved. High North News reported that the company said it never got the March email because of a technical error: it went to the official Moscow address, not a Gmail one.

The official Moscow address is printed on the letterhead of the March letter. Neverov wrote to Nkom on 23 July, arguing that no permit was needed because the broadcasts relied on ordinary commercial equipment. Nkom rejected this on 29 July.

Nkom said it knew of no licence for 95.0 MHz in Barentsburg and asked that any unlicensed broadcasts stop at once. Sebastian Nordli, senior adviser at Nkom, said by email that the authority has been told the broadcasts ended. The Norwegian Local Radio Association gives 2 August as the last FM broadcast date.

Trust Arktikugol submitted its application for a frequency licence to Nkom two days later. Nkom has put the application on hold, and over two months after filing, the company still awaits approval. Because broadcasting rules also apply, the company must first settle licensing questions with the Norwegian Media Authority, and Nkom's handling is paused until then.

Darya Slyunyaeva, assistant to the managing director, said the company awaits approval from both bodies and declined further comment.

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