Russia’s Construction Sites in Arctic Risk Becoming ‘Ghost Towns,’ Barents Observer Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 16 – Just like the Soviet cities in the Far North which in many cases ceased to exist once Moscow’s subsidies disappeared along with the USSR, so too many of Russia’s largest construction centers in the Arctic, key parts of Vladimir Putin’s program for that region, are now at risk of becoming “ghost towns,” Atle Staalesen says.

            The Barents Observer analyst says that among the ones most likely to suffer that fate is Novatek’s LNG Construction Center near Murmansk now that China has followed European countries in pulling out of the project (thebarentsobserver.com/ru/promyshlennost-i-energiya/2022/05/krupneyshie-arkticheskie-stroyki-mogut-stat-gorodami-prizrakami).

            If that project grinds to a complete halt, many of the 20,000 workers there will be left unemployed, housing prices will collapse and regional government revenues will decline, adding to the list of sanctions-induced problems, including image ones, now facing the Russian government.