Barentsburg, where, since the invasion of Ukraine, the previously cordial relations between Russian and Ukrainian residents have turned decidedly icy.Barentsburg, where, since the invasion of Ukraine, the previously cordial relations between Russian and Ukrainian residents have turned decidedly icy.
On 9 May, the day celebrated in Russia as a commemoration of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, the Russian general consul, Andrei Chemerilo, led a parade of dozens of vehicles and a helicopter bearing Russian flags. In another parade in the abandoned Soviet coal mining settlement of Pyramiden, a bulldozer was photographed flying the separatist flag of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”.
A mural of a typical Soviet polar explorer adorns the facade of a former canteen. On it is a poem about the Arctic by the Russian writer Robert Rozhdestvensky: ‘Wherever you wander now, on the threshold of each spring, you will rave about the polar regions, you will have snowy dreams...’Visit Svalbard, the official tourism board, no longer promotes travel to either of the Russian settlements, and most Norwegian tourism operators have stopped going there entirely because of Russia’s invasion.
For many people, however, this is far less of a haven than it used to be. Since the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and later Vladimir Putin’s invasion, many Ukrainians and Russians have left Barentsburg for the mainland,Ivan Velichenko, 36, loved his job as one of the only Ukrainians working in the Russian tourism office in Barentsburg.
The Ukrainian says he felt the change starkly when he returned after eight months helping to defend his home city of Chernihiv, 150km north of Kyiv. He had wanted to show his mother his former home and workplace, he says, but when the pair arrived in Barentsburg they were greeted by a consulate representative who followed and filmed them around the town.
“My task is to take care of the peace and stability of the archipelago,” he says, adding that the tone between him and Russian authorities in Barentsburg is “friendly and constructive”.