Svalbard: The Other Arctic Island Flashpoint, Part 1

Part one of a two-part analysis, partly based on my recent visit to Svalbard.

As many focus on the world’s largest island, Greenland, and President Trump’s aggressive efforts to acquire it, another strategic Arctic island, nearby Svalbard, may be an even more likely future point of contention and conflict. 

Not a conflict between the U.S. and Denmark, or the U.S. and NATO, but between Russia and Norway, and perhaps all of NATO.

Or maybe not with NATO. This is because Svalbard is not just a sovereign territory of Norway, but also has legally established Russian settlements dating back two centuries. And that makes Svalbard uniquely dangerous.

Svalbard, more properly an archipelago, about twice the size of Belgium, with a total population of about 2,500, nominally belongs to Norway, but under the terms of the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, certain countries, including the U.S., Denmark, China, and Russia, have rights of access.

While Norway claims sovereignty, Russia, which has the second-largest population on the islands and two long-standing Soviet-era settlements, frequently contests Norway’s claim.

This long-standing presence is one of the main justifications for the Russians laying their own claim to being the second major arbiter of what happens on Svalbard, after Norway.

And China, since 2004, now has a polar research facility, Yellow River Station, with links to its military, on Svalbard, further complicating the strategic equation.

Strategically located just 429 miles east of Greenland at its closest, Svalbard is the northernmost populated land in the world. It lies 404 miles north of the Norwegian mainland and just 621 miles from the North Pole and enjoys ice-free anchorage in the south.

I visited Svalbard in June and July of 2025 for almost a month, staying in the capital, Longyearbyen, as well as the two Russian settlements, Barentsburg and Pyramiden. Two years earlier, Tom Cruise filmed parts of his recent film, “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning,” on Svalbard.

Just days prior to our visit, Norway’s 88-year-old King Harald and Queen Sonja – as well as Vladimir Putin’s trouble-making Russian Orthodox bishop Vladika Iakov, known for promoting Russian territorial claims in the Arctic – made competing visits to the island at the same time, albeit in different locations.

The Kremlin is using the Orthodox Church as a spiritual weapon to create a narrative that the Arctic belongs to Moscow. In the same vein, King Harald’s visit was also intended to demonstrate that Norway’s sovereignty over Svalbard remains solid.

Today, the Russian presence is far smaller than during its Soviet-era heyday, when its two coal-mining towns, Barentsburg and Pyramiden, alone had a combined population of almost 2,500, or when Russians outnumbered Norwegians on Svalbard by nearly 2.5 to 1.

Now there are barely 500 Russians there, although their numbers are greatly outsized by their puffed-up presence.

Pyramiden is now a ghost town, boasting the world’s northernmost statue of Lenin, and a treasure trove of Soviet-era artifacts and buildings (with only a skeleton crew of caretakers, usually less than 10), while Barentsburg, still an active mining town (for now), hosts a few hundred Russians. 

The Russian flag flies there, and occasionally nostalgic Soviet ones as well, and there is also a Russian Orthodox Church closely tied to Putin’s regime. There is also a heliport at Pyramiden for use by two Russian Mi-8 helicopters on Svalbard.

Barentsburg also hosts a heliport, and the Russian helicopters use the facilities at Longyearbyen Airport in the capital as well.

An unmarked black van driven by a chain-smoking Russian in a black leather mobster jacket quietly picked us up from our hotel in Svalbard’s capital on the way to Pyramiden.

When we arrived at the Russian town of Pyramiden, the hotel staff quickly noted that they already knew who I was. So much for my visit remaining under the radar.

Later, after we visited the old Russian consulate in Barentsburg, painted a mint green, now a museum, the Russian “museum guide” briskly rushed to the new secure Russian consulate just behind the old one, to the left in brick color, likely to file her report on me.

While largely unknown to the general public, Svalbard is critical to global communications as it also hosts the Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat), the world’s largest ground-based satellite communications and tracking installation, located on a flat mountain plateau just above the capital town of Longyearbyen.

The site comprises 170 massive radio domes (radomes) containing huge dish antennae to track and communicate with satellites for everything from weather observation, maritime surveillance, navigation, and search and rescue.

In 2021, Russia complained about Norway’s satellite infrastructure, claiming the SvalSat station violated the treaty because it is a “dual-use” facility with potential military uses.

While administered by Norway, Svalbard is a demilitarized territory. The 1920 treaty prohibits the use of the archipelago for “warlike purposes.”

Only a very small Norwegian police force is allowed on the island. It is fully integrated into the Norwegian police system but operates as a specialized district.

The governor of Svalbard has the same authority as a chief of police on the Norwegian mainland.

Norwegian police jurisdiction includes the entire archipelago and its territorial sea focused on environmental crime, search and rescue (SAR), and keeping public order.

However, as of 2026, the police are monitoring increased Russian intelligence activity, espionage, and potential threats to infrastructure in the region.

Of note, when I landed in Svalbard in June, I quickly noticed several fit, Russian-speaking, military-aged men in civilian clothes at the airport, with military-style packs and bags. They immediately began scouting around with binoculars.

One can only speculate if they were GRU, Russian military intelligence, or something just as sinister.

Following the letter of the law in the treaty, Norwegian coast guard ships patrol the fiords for months at a time, but don’t dock.

While there, I witnessed a modern Norwegian coast guard ship, the KV Jan Mayen (W310) – the lead ship of the new class of offshore patrol boats – cruising nearby during our entire visit.

Having a lawfully allowed Russian presence on the island and being required by treaty to remain demilitarized, makes Svalbard’s connection to NATO and ensuring it falls under Alliance protection, potentially problematic.

CONTINUED IN PART 2.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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