Svalbard, a new source of tension between Russia and NATO

Waving Russian flags, a colossal bust of Lenin and a Soviet-era mining complex: these symbols were not filmed in Russia, but on the Svalbard archipelago, located halfway between the Pole North and Norway. This archipelago is still claimed by the Kremlin​, but it is placed under international status, whose sovereignty has been entrusted to Oslo (Norway). In this colony, Russians and Ukrainians from Donbass had lived together in harmony since the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the war in Ukraine changed everything.

The 370 Russians still there serve as a pretext for the Kremlin to put pressure on Norway. The international status of Svalbard prevents any militarization of the archipelago, which allows Russia to protest each time a Norwegian frigate stops over there. The Kremlin accuses Oslo of blocking the supply of its legally established colonies and points to a major inconsistency in the application of the sanctions put in place by the West since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.