Checks in Russian settlements stepped up since 2022, Governor says

The Governor of Svalbard (Sysselmesteren) has had more inspections and a stronger presence in the Russian settlements since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Governor Lars Fause told NRK in an interview published on Tuesday 3 November. The office keeps what it calls a "correct and factual" dialogue with the settlements, and Fause said the aim is to keep control of the territory in the north.

Fause, who took up the post in June 2021, about six months before the invasion, said the office has expanded its outreach visits and its oversight throughout the archipelago. It will remain present in Barentsburg and Pyramiden as before.

The Governor's annual report for 2022 says that after the war in Ukraine began on 24 February that year, the office set aside extra resources for office days and patrols in Barentsburg to keep calm and stability. From the end of February it held two office days a month there with representatives of the police and an interpreter, and its leadership held four contact meetings with the leadership of Trust Arktikugol, all attended by the Russian consul general.

He said the Governor does not cooperate with anyone and is the one who decides, but that there is dialogue. Pulling back and cutting contact was never considered.

Fause said the approach has worked "in its strange way". Behaving correctly as an authority, including towards the Russians, has in his view been central to the relationship today.

Asked whether Svalbard relies on dialogue more than a place such as Kirkenes, he said Norwegian democracy requires everyone to be treated correctly. He said any case would be assessed against the law, objectivity and proportionality.

The Governor is also the bailiff on Svalbard. On 2 September 2026, on an order from the Nord-Troms District Court, the office arrested the Russian ship Professor Molchanov, docked in Barentsburg, after the court granted the Ukrainian company Naftogaz the right to seize it.

Day to day, Fause said, there is little noticeable difference since the geopolitical situation became tense. What has changed is media attention, which he said has "gone sky-high". Large foreign media outlets visit daily, ambassadors and other foreign officials come often, and visitor numbers to Longyearbyen and Svalbard have risen in recent years. He said his job is to offer every one of these visitors a message that is accurate and calming.

NRK noted that Norway has cut cooperation with Russia to a minimum and that Barents cooperation has ended. Only fisheries and quota cooperation remains.

Terje Aunevik, who leads Longyearbyen Community Council (Longyearbyen lokalstyre), said more than 300 people live in Barentsburg. He said there was in many ways more tension in the north during the Cold War, when Russians on Svalbard outnumbered Norwegians two to one.

The state budget proposition for Svalbard puts the registered population of Barentsburg and Pyramiden at 392 on 1 January 2026. Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund had 2,512 residents on the same date, according to Statistics Norway.

Aunevik said life goes on as normal in Longyearbyen and that keeping it so is the task. He said world tensions affect daily life little and described the town as "cool, calm and collected".

Correction, 3 November 2026: an earlier version of this report suggested the Governor had stepped up checks in the Russian settlements now. The increase began after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Coverage: NRK