Russia on Svalbard

The Soviet towns were once the bigger half of Svalbard

The Russian presence on Svalbard is a coal story. Trust Arktikugol was set up in 1931 and began mining in Barentsburg the year after. In 1985 the Soviet settlements held about twice as many people as the Norwegian ones.

"Russian" settlements is shorthand. On 1 September 2024 Barentsburg's management counted 340 residents by citizenship.

Norway mined its last coal on Svalbard in 2025

Coal built both towns. Store Norske, the Norwegian state's company, closed its last mine, Gruve 7 outside Longyearbyen, on 30 June 2025. Its big Svea mines had closed by 2020. Trust Arktikugol mines on in Barentsburg on a far smaller scale than Norway did at its peak.

Who has signed up to the Svalbard Treaty, and when

The treaty gives Norway sovereignty and gives every state that joins it equal access to Svalbard's economic life. Nine states signed it in Paris in 1920. Most others joined in the 1920s. The Soviet Union joined in 1935. Since then the newcomers have been few: Ireland in 1976, Iceland in 1994, the Czech Republic in 2006, South Korea and Lithuania in 2012, North Korea and Latvia in 2016, Slovakia in 2017, Serbia in 2022, Türkiye in 2024 and the United Arab Emirates in 2026.

Why join now? The Emirates gave its own reason. Its accession is "enabling our scientists to contribute directly to global research initiatives at stations such as Ny-Ålesund," the assistant foreign minister Abdulla Balalaa told the Emirates News Agency, The Barents Observer reported.

Russia sees a wider circle. Dmitri Negrutsa of Arktikugol told The Barents Observer in October 2023 that a planned science centre in Pyramiden would be a base for cooperation between Russia and friendly countries.

One reading: Norway under pressure

Totland reads a Russian strategy for Svalbard in Russia's Arctic strategy, the work of its government commission on Svalbard and its maritime doctrine. In his reading it means pressure on Norway just below the threshold of war, a stronger presence in Barentsburg and Pyramiden, money from Russian oligarchs and BRICS state funds, and a turn from keeping China at a distance to inviting "friendly" states in.

Russia's ambassador in Oslo, Nikolai Korchunov, told Izvestia on 1 March 2026 that Oslo is trying to push Russia out of the archipelago, and that Russia seeks its presence on equal terms with Norway and the other treaty states.

Research is where Totland expects the next conflict. Article 5 of the treaty foresaw a later agreement on scientific work. None was ever made, he said. Norway applies its own rules; Russia holds that the treaty's equal treatment covers science too. He names three points.

Barentsburg's harbour trade, and the ship that cannot leave

Totland links a business in Barentsburg to sanctions. Since Norway closed most of its ports to Russian fishing vessels, he said, they go to Barentsburg for supplies and repairs.

"Taken with a pinch of salt"

Russian plans for Svalbard must be "taken with a pinch of salt" (translated), Totland said. He said similar plans were announced as early as 1998, when Pyramiden was emptied. What has changed, in his account, is the money, the political backing and the momentum. How it ends is not yet known, he said.

Pyramiden's second life

Mining stopped in Pyramiden in 1998, but the town did not stay empty. Its hotel reopened for overnight guests in March 2013 and is now open from March to October. The abandoned town has become a major tourist attraction, visited by several tour operators, Store norske leksikon records. Trust Arktikugol has upgraded the place for tourism, the Norwegian government notes in its white paper.

It is also where Russia wants its new science centre. In December 2023 Arktikugol's director Ildar Neverov described it to TASS as an international scientific and educational centre for the BRICS countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Symbols have followed. In 2023 a seven-metre Russian Orthodox cross went up above the town without a permit from Sysselmesteren. It had to be removed, but permission was given to put it up elsewhere in the town. In 2024 a large Soviet flag was raised on top of the mountain Pyramiden. The Russian authorities in Barentsburg said it marked the Russian history tied to Pyramiden, Store norske leksikon records.

Russia on Svalbard, October 2026

• PeopleBarentsburg and Pyramiden had 419 permanent residents at the start of September 2026, Trust Arktikugol told Sysselmesteren (the Governor of Svalbard). In September 2024 it reported 340. Statistics Norway publishes the same 419 as its count for the second half of 2026, which it dates to 1 July.
• The shipThe Russian state ship Professor Molchanov has been held in Barentsburg since 2 September under a court order won by Ukraine's Naftogaz. Trust Arktikugol says the arrest hurts Barentsburg and Pyramiden; Naftogaz says the ship is in commercial use. On 28 October the district court rejected Arktikugol's request to lift the arrest. (In depth →)
• SeizuresNaftogaz has also won seizures of Russian-owned property in Oslo and of vehicles on Svalbard. Since September, a Norwegian regulation limits seizures of goods the settlements need to keep running.
• RadioRadio Maya in Barentsburg has stopped its FM broadcasts while the Norwegian Communications Authority holds its frequency application.

From the Wire's topic page, checked 27 October 2026.

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