Moscow Organizes Summer School in Svalbard to Expand Russian Influence There

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 11 – Moscow’s Center for International Research and Education is organizing a summer school on the Svalbard archipelago (Spitzbergen) for students from Russia and non-Arctic countries as part of a Russian government effort to use soft power means to oppose what its  director describes as NATO’s militarization of those islands.

            The summer school, to take place June 16-29, is a pilot project, its director Irina Strelnikova says, and shows that “amidst rising international tensions, the militarization of the archipelago by Norway and Svalbard’s inclusion in NATO’s military-political planning, Russia is giving priority to soft power mechanisms” (arctic.ru/20260611/1533664.html).

            This is the latest in a series of Russian moves over the last year intended to increase its influence in Svalbard and to involve countries not part of the Arctic Council which has suspended contacts with Moscow since Putin launched his expanded war against Ukraine in February 2022.

            For background on what Moscow has been doing in this Norwegian territory and what these moves may presage, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2026/02/moscow-increases-its-focus-on-two-north.html, jamestown.org/moscow-using-svalbard-to-test-natos-readiness-and-resolve/ and jamestown.org/moscows-first-move-against-nato-could-take-place-in-norways-svalbard-archipelago/.