Mironov Wants Moscow to Follow Trump and Give Russian Names to Arctic Ocean, Franz Joseph Land and Svalbard

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 3 – Sergey Mironov, a Duma deputy noted for his ultra-nationalist positions, says Russia must learn from what US President Donald Trump is doing and give Russian names to the Arctic Ocean, Franz Joseph Land and the Svalbard archipelago to reflect Russia’s importance in the Arctic.
    The leader of the Just Russia-For Truth Party says that the Arctic should become the Russian Arctic Ocean, Franz Joseph Land, which does belong to Russia, should become Lomonosov Land, and the Svalbard archipelago, which belongs to Norway, the Pomor Island (t.me/mironovonline/11529 and thebarentsobserver.com/news/extremist-lawmaker-wants-to-rename-svalbard/424048).
    Other Russians have also picked up on Trump’s plan to rename certain geographic locations, but Mironov is the most prominent among them – and his call has the potential to exacerbate growing tensions in the Arctic by introducing yet another source of disinformation and confusion there.
    But this Russian nationalist proposal, like to many others, may backfire on Moscow.  If the Kremlin puts the Pomors on the map in the way Mironov proposes, that will almost certainly give new energy to the Pomor national movement which has been growing in the Russian North and further fracture what Moscow defines as a united ethnic Russian nation.
    For background on the Pomors, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/04/pomor-lands-not-yet-proud-catalonia-but.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/02/optimization-means-liquidation-pomors.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/11/pomors-seen-in-moscow-as-ethnic.html,  windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2017/06/in-russian-north-official-ethnic.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/03/in-north-some-ethnic-russians-again.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/10/pomor-nation-building-in-1990s-shows.html  and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/12/pomor-movement-creating-second-ukraine.html.