Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09OSLO586
2009-09-22 15:58:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Oslo
Cable title:  

Svalbard - Norwegian Territory with a Twist

Tags:  SENV CVIS PREL ECON SV XQ NO RU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2556
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHNY #0586/01 2651558
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221558Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY OSLO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7825
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 OSLO 000586 

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NB, EUR/RUS, OES/OPA, AND INR

(C O R R E C T E D C O P Y) - TEXT ERRORS


E. O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV CVIS PREL ECON SV XQ NO RU
SUBJECT: Svalbard - Norwegian Territory with a Twist

OSLO 00000586 001.2 OF 004


SBU - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 OSLO 000586

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NB, EUR/RUS, OES/OPA, AND INR

(C O R R E C T E D C O P Y) - TEXT ERRORS


E. O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV CVIS PREL ECON SV XQ NO RU
SUBJECT: Svalbard - Norwegian Territory with a Twist

OSLO 00000586 001.2 OF 004


SBU - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY


1. (U) SUMMARY: Pol/Econ counselor traveled to Svalbard
Sep 1-4 as part of a Norwegian and international group
hosted by two Norwegian security policy related NGOs.
The group toured the main settlement on Svalbard --
Longyearbyen -- as well as visiting the Russian mining
community in Barentsburg. Svalbard played host the same
week to an extended visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon,
who traveled from Svalbard further into the Arctic Circle
to view the melting ice. The Embassy's new
Charge d'affaires also toured parts of Svalbard in
mid-August, along with a group of U.S. Congressional
staffers as part of the MFA-arranged Norwegian-American
Parliamentary Exchange Program (NAPEP). His tour included
what is left of the other Russian settlement at Pyramiden as
well as the Kongsberg Satellite Station, of which NASA is a
prime customer. Positioned high up in the Arctic Circle at
78 degrees north latitude, the territory's importance to
Norway stems from its unique location for contributing to
research on climate change and melting polar ice, as well a
s the potential it represents for both collaboration and
potential competition with Russia in Norway's High North
and security policy. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Pol/Econ Counselor toured Svalbard September 1-4 as
part of a Norwegian and international group sponsored by two
Norwegian think tanks/NGS - the Norwegian Atlantic Committee
and People and Defense (Folk og Forsvar). The Dutch DCM in
Oslo and two other Americans were also on the trip, one
civilian from NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers
Europe (SHAPE) office and one George Washington University
professor. Svalbard is a group of islands far north of the
mainland of Norway into the Arctic Circle, at 78 degrees
North latitude. The territory measures 63,000 square kilometers,
very roughly the size of Ireland, but is home to only
about 2,700 to 3,000 inhabitants year round and slightly
more in the summer when hundreds of scientists pour in from
across the globe for various field experiments. Tour guides

like to point out the polar bear population on the island
chain is closer to 3,000. The entire territory of Svalbard
falls under Norwegian sovereignty, but is open
internationally, as described in more detail below.
This makes the territory unique in many respects in
Norwegian and international law.


3. (U) Some 2,000 to 2,200 of Svalbard's inhabitants
live in the Norwegian mining town of Longyearbyen (on the
west coast of the main island of Spitsbergen) where the
Governor's office, the Norwegian Polar Institute, the
University Centre in Svalbard, and the Great Norwegian
Mining Company headquarters are located. The other main
population center is the Russian mining town of Barentsburg,
south of Longyearbyen and also on the west coast of Spitsbergen.
Having once housed well over 1,000 people, Barentsburg is now
home to about 550 inhabitants comprised of Russians
and - according to our group's Russian tour guide - some
70 percent Ukrainians. There are hardly any surface roads
of any significant distance in all of Svalbard, and there
is no road connecting Longyearbyen and Barentsburg.
The only connections between the predominantly Norwegian
and predominantly Russian towns are by ferry boat in summer
or by snow mobile across the mountains in winter.
From Barentsburg, there is a charter plane to and from Moscow
once every two months, which transports mining company staff
and their families and delivers the town's main supply of
food and produce. The settlement does not trade much with
Longyearbyen or with Tromso, the nearest port of entry into
mainland Norway some 200-250 miles (check) south across the
arctic waters. Interestingly, there does not appear to be
a border crossing or other port of entry into Norway in
Barentsburg at the ferry port or at the site of the Russian
charter plane's landing.


4. (SBU) A few interesting facts about Barentburg:
The Russian Consulate-General at the top o the hill -- which
we saw from a distance in our guided tour -- was a grand structure
some four orfive stories tall, larger than many
countries' ebassies in Oslo. The main purpose of the
consulte, according to the guide, was to provide consula
services to once thriving Russian community in arentsburg
and surrounding towns. For economic easons, Russia has
since closed down its mining operations in the town of
Pyramiden and other locations.


5. (U) The Russian mine in Barentsburg has not yet been fully

OSLO 00000586 002.2 OF 004


repaired after a fire and the subsequent required flooding of
the mine in 2008. The Russian government does, however, plan
to restore the mine and it continues to maintain and subsidize
the town's operation. The small settlement town is fairly well
equipped with a Russian daycare and elementary school, a sports
center, communal living quarters and social halls, Russian souvenir
shops, a grocery store, a hotel (which, the guide admitted, hardly
ever received any tourists),a small church (built as a monument to
the 141 victims of a 1996 plane crash in the area),and a statue of
Lenin in the main square. The one obvious sign of Norwegian
sovereignty over the territory was the small Royal Norwegian post
office inside the town's Russian-run hotel. Some photos and other
information about Barentsburg are on the Norwegian Polar
Institute's website at
http://cruise-handbook.npolar.no/en/isfjorden /barentsburg.html.


6. (U) At the edge of the Barentsburg settlement, facing the
harbor port, there is a Russian scientific research station, which
the guide says employs about 12 scientists year round, plus some
30 more who come just for the summer months. This research station
is in addition to the Russians' research facilities in the main
international research town of Ny Alesund, far north on the island
of Spitsbergen.


7. (U) As in Longyearbyen, there are no trees and few signs of plant
life in Barentsburg; the permafrost prevents them from growing.
The sun is out 24 hours a day for four months in summer, and it
is then completely dark for four months in winter, until early
to mid-March.

Svalbard - Norwegian Territory but International Too
-------------- --------------


8. (SBU) Our group was briefed on separate occasions by the
outgoing governor of Svalbard Per Sefland and his deputy Lars
Faus, who plans to serve another year. They are Norwegian
government officials who answer to Norway's Ministry of Justice.
Norwegian law largely applies on the island chain, with a
few exceptions. Chief among the exceptions is that Norway's
immigration law and Norway's Schengen arrangement with the EU
do not apply in Svalbard. Instead, the Svalbard Treaty serves
to guide immigration policy, such as it is. In practice, the
governor and deputy admitted, the territory is not only open to
the 40 plus States signatories to the Svalbard treaty, but to
everyone from around the world. People flying into Longyearbyen
airport in Svalbard from the last stop on Norway's
mainland - Tromso airport, or from other countries, go through
no real customs or passport control to enter the island chain.


9. (SBU) The area of Svalbard is a duty free shopping
zone, and the Government of Norway collects no VAT on almost
anything purchased in Svalbard. When flying or sailing from
anywhere on Svalbard back to Tromso, Oslo, or elsewhere in
Norway, passengers are supposed to go through Norwegian and Schengen
immigration and customs controls. But in practice, the governor
and deputy separately both admitted to our group the checks were not
yet very thorough. "It will get better by 2011, when Norway is up
for a review of its Schengen compliance," the governor said. The
current state of affairs resulted in one recent case in which a
Libyan citizen who was ineligible to reside in Norway left for
Svalbard and tried to reenter Norway through the airport in
Tromso in July 2009. In that one case, he was caught by Norwegian
authorities, but others likely try the same tactic and
succeed, the governor indicated.

Charge's visit to Svalbard with Congressional Staffers
-------------- --------------


10. (SBU) Post's then-newly arrived Charge d'Affaires (CDA) also
visited Svalbard August 13-16, along with a group of House and
Senate staff members on the Norwegian American Parliamentary
Exchange Program (NAPEP),hosted by the Government of Norway.
In Longyearbyen, the group met with Svalbard Governor Per Sefland
and also received briefings at the University Center, the Kongsberg
satellite tracking station, and the UN's Global Seed Bank.
These latter three institutions, along with burgeoning
tourism, form part of Norway's largely successful effort to
supplement coal mining (now in serious decline) with other more
up-to-date forms of economic activity as the basis for its physical
presence on the archipelago.


11. (SBU) The governor explained that Norway's Svalbard policy
is based on four principles: 1. Firm application of the 1920
Svalbard treaty 2. Secure peace and stability in the area

3. Protect and preserve the wilderness character of Svalbard, and

4. Maintain Norwegian settlements in Svalbard. The Norwegian
government conducts an annual three-week inspection of the
archipelago by boat.

OSLO 00000586 003.2 OF 004


The population of Svalbard does not enjoy the full health and welfare
benefits of mainland Norwegians, the Governor said, and it is not
intended that any of the 2500-plus Norwegian residents remain there
permanently. (CDA did meet one long time resident who runs dog sleds
for tourists in the Advent Valley, and he expressed some antagonism
at mention of the governor. Another Svalbard resident explained
that this was because the government's zealous policy of protecting
the Svalbard environment is annoying to the small number of long term
residents of Svalbard, who value unrestricted freedom to hunt and fish.
Regarding tourism, the modern airport outside Longyearbyen has many
full flights daily in the summer. Flights during the long dark winter
are much fewer, averaging three days a week. The governor said about
30 cruise ships visit Svalbard every summer. He expressed concern
about the possibility of an oil spill from one of these ships, because
it would be "virtually impossible" to bring in the kind of equipment
that would be required to clean up after such an event. For this
reason, Norway is considering a ban on the use of heavy oil by any
vessels coming near Svalbard.


12. (U) Tourists visiting Svalbard who travel outside of habited
areas must be accompanied by armed guides due to the danger from
the roughly 3000 polar bears. Polar bears are rarely killed
(a large stuffed specimen in the museum resulted from an attack
on some scientists several years ago),and when they are, a complicated
investigation must take place, similar to a homicide
investigation, to determine if the killing was warranted.


13. (SBU) Sefland also mentioned to the NAPEP group, as he did to
pol/econ counselor's group in September, his serious concern that
Svalbard represents a loophole in Norway's Schengen border, due in
part to poor screening at Tromso airport in northern Norway.
CDA noted that upon returning from Svalbard to Oslo on a direct
flight, all inbound passengers from Svalbard are screened by passport
control and customs at Gardermoen airport in Oslo.

Small Russian Settlement Left at Pyramiden
--------------


14. (SBU) The NAPEP delegation travelled together with other tourists
by a small ship to the abandoned Russian mining town of
Pyramiden, north of Longyearbyen but also on Isfjorden.
On the way, a group of about 20 Italian tourists was let off to spend
close to a week on their own in the wilderness, and another group of
Europeans was picked up on the return journey from a similar expeditio
In Pyramiden, some 5-10 Russian men were seen working to repair the wat
system and some of the buildings. The Russian guide, who carried a rif
in case polar bears approached our group, explained that the repairs we
intended to assist in conversion of Pyramiden into a tourist destinatio
Although CDA found the town to be an interesting time capsule of Soviet
life (as in Barentsburg, a large statue of Lenin is a
big photo attraction),the scale of work that would be needed to actual
make the crumbling ghost town of Pyramiden into a money-making
attraction would be far greater than anything that was observed.
The "hotel" which supposedly will be the centerpiece of the project
is a 70's era shambles. Interestingly, it bears a sign indicating
that the Norwegian postal service picks up and drops off mail
there, or once did.


15. (SBU) Sefland also hosted a dinner for NAPEP, during which
he told CDA that the small band of Russians working at Pyramiden
is intended to maintain a shoestring Russian presence in that town.
He agreed that the "work" going on there is unlikely to lead to
any meaningful development of Pyramiden into a tourist destination.
(Although the cruise tour NAPEP accompanied did bring tourists to
Pyramiden, there was no opportunity to spend any money there.)
CDA asked Sefland about contacts between the authorities on Svalbard
and Russians at Franz Josef Land. He said there had been requests for
assistance, in areas like search and rescue, and he claimed that this
reflected the fragile support that Franz Josef Land receives
from mainland Russia.

Kongsberg Satellite Station - High Tech in the High North
-------------- --------------


16. (U) CDA and NAPEP visited the Kongsberg Satellite Service
Station just outside Longyearbyen, which the briefers there noted
was the largest on earth, servicing approximately 350 satellites in
polar orbit. (Svalbard's location at 78 degrees north makes this site
auspicious for the purpose). NASA's antenna is the oldest at the
site, and the Norwegian briefers said NASA remains the station's most
important customer. The EU satellite system Galileo will also be
serviced from Svalbard. The station employs some 17 engineers and
other personnel year round.


17. (U) Kongsberg connected Svalbard to mainland Norway via fiber
optic cable in 2003, to facilitate transmission of satellite data.

OSLO 00000586 004.2 OF 004


This has benefited the entire Norwegian presence in the archipelago
(CDA noted tremendously fast broadband internet
connection in Longyearbyen),and has facilitated the success
and growth of the new University Center in Svalbard (UNIS).
UNIS has a staff of 50, including 25 PhDs, and now hosts 400 students
from 25 countries to do field scientific research on Arctic
biology, geology, astronomy (northern lights),and
climate (including carbon capture and storage). UNIS dates
from 2003, but its current modern and up to date facility was
inaugurated by the King and Queen of Norway in 2006.


18. (U) The UN's Global Seed Bank (GSB) is another Svalbard
institution visited on the NAPEP trip (and later visited in early
September by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon). Taking advantage
of Svalbard's climate to maintain a constant cold temperature at
its underground vault, the GSB has the capacity to store 4.5 million
distinct samples and over 2 billion seeds. The GSB's purpose is to
safeguard and insure global plant genetic diversity against
catastrophic extinction events.


HEG