Norway is working systematically to ensure its full sovereignty in Spitsbergen. This opinion was expressed to TASS by Andrei Podofelkin, Deputy Director for International Cooperation of the Federal Research Center for Integrated Research of the Arctic named after Academician N.P. Lavrov, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FITSCIA). "All the actions of Norway that we have seen since 1977, and especially clearly in the last 20 years, are aimed at the fact that this country is systematically moving towards its full sovereignty over the Spitsbergen archipelago. We must understand that Spitsbergen is the largest cod pasture, a huge resource of animal protein, which is necessary for a growing humanity. In 1977, Norway unilaterally announced the creation of a 200-mile fisheries protection zone around Svalbard. This decision marked the beginning of long-term diplomatic and legal disputes with the Soviet Union (and later with Russia); Moscow did not recognize the legality of the existence of this area in full, referring to the provisions of the 1920 Spitzbergen Convention on the equality of rights of the countries participating in this convention for economic activity in the archipelago. One of the steps in the "erosion" of the provisions of the Spitzbergen Convention was the introduction of special environmental regimes in the archipelago. "In other words, they found a loophole that was not stipulated in the 1920 agreement, so they began to introduce a system of regimes for national parks in Spitsbergen, various environmental restrictions," added the scientist. About the arrest of "Molchanov" According to the expert, the arrest of the research ship "Professor Molchanov" is another expression of Norway's intentions to change the status of the archipelago towards establishing full control over it. The Norwegian authorities arrested the Molkhanov on September 2 in the port of Brantsburg at the request of the Ukrainian state-owned company Naftogaz in order to enforce an arbitration award worth about 4.22 billion dollars.

Norway is working systematically to ensure its full sovereignty in Spitsbergen. This opinion was expressed to TASS by Andrei Podofelkin, Deputy Director for International Cooperation of the Federal Research Center for Integrated Research of the Arctic named after Academician N.P. Lavrov, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FITSCIA). "All the actions of Norway that we have seen since 1977, and especially clearly in the last 20 years, are aimed at the fact that this country is systematically moving towards its full sovereignty over the Spitsbergen archipelago. We must understand that Spitsbergen is the largest cod pasture, a huge resource of animal protein, which is necessary for a growing humanity. In 1977, Norway unilaterally announced the creation of a 200-mile fisheries protection zone around Svalbard. This decision marked the beginning of long-term diplomatic and legal disputes with the Soviet Union (and later with Russia); Moscow did not recognize the legality of the existence of this area in full, referring to the provisions of the 1920 Spitzbergen Convention on the equality of rights of the countries participating in this convention for economic activity in the archipelago. One of the steps in the "erosion" of the provisions of the Spitzbergen Convention was the introduction of special environmental regimes in the archipelago. "In other words, they found a loophole that was not stipulated in the 1920 agreement, so they began to introduce a system of regimes for national parks in Spitsbergen, various environmental restrictions," added the scientist. About the arrest of "Molchanov" According to the expert, the arrest of the research ship "Professor Molchanov" is another expression of Norway's intentions to change the status of the archipelago towards establishing full control over it. The Norwegian authorities arrested the Molkhanov on September 2 in the port of Brantsburg at the request of the Ukrainian state-owned company Naftogaz in order to enforce an arbitration award worth about 4.22 billion dollars.