Atle Staalesen

Russian nickel miner wants nuclear power for Arctic plant

Nornickel starts talks with Russia's state nuclear energy company Rosatom on the building of a small-scale nuclear power station in Norilsk.
November 14, 2023

The last convoy before the big freeze

Research ship Grigory Mikheev has spent weeks in remote Arctic waters to prepare the ground for year-round shipping on the Northern Sea Route. Now it is escorted out of the quickly expanding sea-ice as part of this year's last ship convoy
November 14, 2023

Three months after Moscow adopted law on goods deliveries to northern territories, a crisis looms in isolated Arctic settlements

"Our region is on the verge of an emergency situation," a woman from the far northern Nenets Autonomous Okrug warns as winter supplies have failed to reach local villages.
November 09, 2023

Taken by storm, the "Aleksandr Gusev" becomes landmark wreckage on Barents Sea coast

The 30 year old ship that used to shuttle along the coast of the Kola Peninsula with fish food for local sea farmers ended its life on a cliff near a Russian naval base.
November 07, 2023

Newnew Polar Bear sails towards Bering Strait

The ship suspected of sabotage against underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea is sailing towards the Pacific Ocean following its voyage through Russian Arctic waters.
November 06, 2023

Few weeks before launch, Russia's biggest LNG project is put on U.S sanction list

The Arctic LNG 2 is included in the State Treasury's sanctions list as part of efforts to curb Russia's future energy production, revenues and financing of war.
November 03, 2023

School kids in Severomorsk honour Andrei Paliy, the deputy fleet commander killed in Ukraine

School No 10 in the north Russian Navy city has put up photos and memorial plates of the 1st rang captain that served many years in the Kola Peninsula before he was appointed to Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet and was killed in the battles over Mariupol.
October 30, 2023

Russian Foreign Ministry summons Norway's Ambassador over incident at war memorial in Kirkenes

According to Sergei Lavrov's men in Moscow, the adjustment of a Russian wreath at the local war monument in Kirkenes, northern Norway, is an "act of vandalism" and an expression of "russophobia."
October 27, 2023

Runaway ship Newnew Polar Bear, suspected of sabotage in Baltic Sea, is sailing into Russian Arctic waters

As it was waiting for icebreaker escort, the ship operator changed name and obtained a special permission for sailing on the Northern Sea Route.
October 26, 2023

With message to NATO neighbors, Russian corvette sails White Sea Canal and launches Kalibr cruise missile

Missile corvette Serpukhov sailed from St.Petersburg and through the inland waterway to the White Sea as part of a shooting exercise.
October 26, 2023

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Atle is journalist and Publisher of the Independent Barents Observer.

In 2002, he founded the Barents Observer. He was editor until 2009 and later worked as journalist and project coordinator for several European cross-border cooperation projects. In late 2015, following a conflict over editorial rights, he re-established the Barents Observer as an independent and non-profit stock company along with the rest of the newspaper crew.  

Atle has a degree in Russian studies from the University of Oslo and studied journalism at the Moscow State University.

atle@thebarentsobserver.com
@atlestaalesen