Moscow Plans to Build Infrastructure on Norway’s Svalbard for 50,000 Russian Tourists by 2040

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 14 – In the latest Russian move on Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the north Atlantic where signatories have special rights that Moscow is seeking to use to expand its position there, Yuri Trutnev, who runs the Far Eastern Federal District, says that Russia now plans to develop infrastructure for a massive expansion of Russian tourism there.

            Trutnyev says that Russia now plans to set up an international scientific and educational center on the archipelago as part of a much larger effort involving the construction of housing so that over the next 15 years, the number of Russian tourists going there can increase to 50,000 (arctic.ru/infrastructure/20251114/1058300.html).

            Because of the potential that such infrastructure could be used to lay the groundwork for a Russian military move against that archipelago, Trutnyev’s words are likely to increase concerns in Oslo and elsewhere that the Russian tourists he would like to see there will be “dual use” as well.

            (On fears about that Moscow may be thinking about such actions and that Norway and others are worried, see jamestown.org/moscows-first-move-against-nato-could-take-place-in-norways-svalbard-archipelago/ and jamestown.org/moscow-using-svalbard-to-test-natos-readiness-and-resolve/.)

            At the very least, these new Russian plans will lead some to recall an old Estonian joke about a Russian seeking to enter that Baltic country. The border guard asks “Occupation?” to which the Russian replies “no, just visiting.”