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> Russia has long had a mining presence on Svalbard Not only a mining presence [1]: "After the war, the Soviet Union proposed common Norwegian and Soviet admin
by throwaway89201 1y ago
> Russia has long had a mining presence on Svalbard
Not only a mining presence [1]: "After the war, the Soviet Union proposed common Norwegian and Soviet administration and military defence of Svalbard. This was rejected in 1947 by Norway, which two years later joined NATO. The Soviet Union retained high civilian activity on Svalbard, in part to ensure that the archipelago was not used by NATO."
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard#Second_World_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard#Second_World_War
- boomboomsubban 1y agoWouldn't "high civilian activity" refer primarily to miners?
- jonstewart 1y agoProbably. Barentsburg, west from Longyearbyen, is predominantly a Russian mining village. Svalbard is interesting in that it is part of Norway but citizens of some other countries are granted more rights than they’d have in the rest of Norway, and Norway also is not allowed to operate its military from Svalbard.
- tormeh 1y agoI believe it's basically all countries. There was a deal with other countries through the UN.
- jonstewart 1y ago48. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Treaty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Treaty
- tormeh 1y agoIn practice it's a visa-free zone. Anyone from anywhere can settle in Svalbard as long as they can get there. Of course, not many want to, so it's a bit academic.
- lentil_soup 1y agoThere's was/is also Pyramiden to the north east, also a mining town but closed down in '98