Top Arctic stories of the week, 29 November -- 3 December 2021

Below is a recap of this week’s posts by Alexander Stotskiy (CEO, Project Office for Arctic Development) analyzing major international, national and regional events and trends in the Arctic.

A plenary meeting of Senior Arctic Officials held in Russia

The first Senior Arctic Officials’ plenary meeting during the Russian Chairmanship was held in a hybrid format in Salekhard, Yamal. The meeting focused on the ongoing and new projects implemented within the Council’s framework, climate change impact on indigenous peoples in the Arctic, healthcare challenges, emerging threats, social and economic cooperation aiming at improving the lives of indigenous peoples in high latitudes and other important topics. Read more…

A yacht operated by the MSU will explore the Arctic shelf

Rubicon Arctica, a research vessel commissioned by the Moscow State University’s center for geophysical studies was launched at the Ushakovo Shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia. The construction cost is estimated at around 100 million rubles. The yacht will be used to conduct research in the Arctic Ocean alongside the Northern Sea Route. Read more…

Strategic partnership between Rosatom and Nornickel will unblock the NSR

Nornickel will hand over Taimyr nuclear-powered icebreaker to Rosatom to help the latter cope with the traffic jam on the Northern Sea Route. The icebreaker is engaged in escort operations in the Dudinka area in the Russian Arctic under a long-term contract concluded between Nornickel and Rosatom. Nornickel agreed to reassign Taimyr to take part in the rescue operation coordinated by Rosatom’s subsidiary Atomflot. Read more…

Vostok Oil pipeline will contribute to increasing the NSR freight

Russian oil giant Rosneft announced the start of construction of a pipeline for its major project in the Arctic, Vostok Oil. The pipeline will be used to deliver oil from the Vankor and Payakha oil field clusters to the Bukhta Sever port to be located on the Taimyr Peninsula. Launching the pipeline will help dramatically increase the amount of cargo moved through the Northern Sea Route. Read more…

Contamination levels in the oil spill area near Norilsk are decreasing, authorities say

The areas affected by the past year’s oil spill in Norilsk appear to be recovering, says the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resource Management of Krasnoyarsk Kray, Russia. Such were the findings of a field study conducted on the Taymyr Peninsula by a team of experts from the regional Environment Ministry and the Centre for Environmental Monitoring deployed in the Norilsk Industrial Area in summer/autumn 2021. Read more…