Russia accuses Norway of blocking supplies to Russian miners on the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, thereby violating international law. Norway denies the allegation.
In the current dispute, Russia accuses Norway of violating the Spitsbergen Treaty. According to this, Norway prevented the loading of a delivery of goods intended for Spitsbergen at the Storskog land border crossing point with reference to EU sanctions.
Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt rejects this. Rather, the delivery was stopped due to existing sanctions that prohibit Russian trucking companies from transporting goods across Norwegian territory, she told AFP. Instead, Russia could bring goods to the archipelago by ship or plane.
The Spitsbergen Treaty is one of the oldest international treaties still in force. It gives 46 countries the right to exploit the natural resources of the Arctic archipelago. Previously, the archipelago, also known as Svalbard, was considered “terra nullus” – ie an area that belongs to nobody.
According to former Norwegian diplomat Sverre Jervell, the genesis of the Svalbard Treaty is a “legendary story”. The two diplomats who drafted the treaty in 1920 were having an affair at the time. The agreement was practically drafted “in bed”, says Jervell: “The Norwegian Ambassador Fritz Wedel Jarlsberg had a homosexual relationship with the legal adviser to the French Foreign Ministry, Henri Fromageot.”
Jarlsberg wrote the first article of the treaty giving Norway sovereignty over Spitsbergen. Fromageot added the remaining articles according to which “Norway does not have sole jurisdiction”.
The islands are located about halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The treaty gives the citizens of the signatory countries the right to exploit the resources available there on an equal footing through ‘maritime, industrial, mining or commercial activities’. In fact, Norway and Russia are the main users of this right.
According to the treaty, the islands are a demilitarized zone. Norway is prohibited from building naval bases there or fortifying the area that “shall never be used for warlike purposes”.
According to Jervell, Norway’s then foreign minister was concerned when he read the draft treaty. “He was against it because he was afraid of the Russians,” reports the ex-diplomat. The treaty was ultimately signed anyway and came into force in 1925.
China, India, and North and South Korea are also among the countries that have joined the Spitsbergen Treaty over the years, as well as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Germany, among others.
Because of the many natural resources present on Svalbard, the agreement has been interpreted differently over the past few decades, particularly in relation to the sea. Norway insists equal access should be limited to 20 kilometers around Svalbard.
Russia and Western countries, on the other hand, believe the treaty should include the exclusive economic zone, which is 200 nautical miles wide – a concept that did not exist in 1920.
Despite differing views on the geographical interpretation of the treaty, Norway and the European Union have managed to agree on cod fishing quotas in the region.
The question of catching snow crabs is more difficult: the crustaceans live at the bottom of the ocean, so they are in constant contact with the sea floor. That said, any legal regulation of crab fishing could have major implications for who would be entitled to potential oil, gas, and other mineral resources around Svalbard.
New figures on pension taxation: In 2021, taxes had to be paid on almost 65 percent of all statutory, private or company pensions. That is almost 10 percent more than in 2015.
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