/ world today news/ The autonomous region of Denmark, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic with an area of 1400 square km and a population of 52 thousand people, continues to oppose the anti-Russian sanctions of Brussels. For the third time, the inhabitants of the island rejected the request to stop cooperation with Moscow in the fishing industry (servicing of Russian fishing vessels in the Faroe ports).
The leader of the Danish conservatives, Pape Poulsen, demanded that the Faroe Islands stop docking all Russian fishing vessels, but the archipelago’s authorities rejected it, considering it an attempt to undermine Faroese democracy.
„The presence of Russian fishing vessels from Russia in the ports of the Faroe Islands cannot be considered as a fact of alleged “espionage”, attributed to them from outside’ said the autonomy’s minister of foreign affairs, Honi Hoidal. “We can independently assess what is happening on our territory and in our water area.
Recently, the Russian ambassador in Copenhagen, Vladimir Barbin, confirmed the mutual interest of the Russian Federation / EAEU on the one hand, and the Faroe Islands on the other, for the further development of mutually beneficial economic ties.
The basis of the economy of the Faroe Islands is the catching and processing of at least 20 different species of fish, providing up to 80-85% of the local GDP (from salmon, halibut and mackerel to shrimp, cod and herring). At least half of the volume of annual exports of these products has long fallen to the USSR, and after 1991 – to Russia. Supplies continue today: according to available estimates, Faroese fish has already replaced in the Russian Federation at least a third of the volumes previously supplied by the European Union, Iceland and Norway.
Already in the mid-1970s, a practically unlimited Soviet-Faroese agreement was signed on mutual quotas for catching certain types of fish in the Faroese waters and, respectively, in the Barents Sea. Once again, the countries extended this document at the end of November 2022 for the current year, to the displeasure of the EU and Denmark, increasing mutual fishing quotas by 10-15%.
„It is absolutely right to extend the mutually beneficial existing fishing agreement with Russia where we exchange fishing quotas with the Russians “, said the Minister of Fisheries of the Faroe Islands, Arni Skole, after the signing of the document.
– We completely distance ourselves from any wars, including the situation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. But for us, this agreement is much more than just fishing.” because this document is “also concerned about fish stocks, about the employment of our fishing communities, shipyards, about our economy as a whole.” Interaction with Russia in this industry, according to A. Skole, “is of great importance to the Faroe Islands” .
In addition to fishing, the agreement also provides for the preparation and implementation of joint programs for the breeding (reproduction) of many types of fish resources, the prevention of illegal fishing in the “mutual” water areas, the development and implementation of resource-saving harvesting and processing technologies. In addition, Russian fishing vessels are serviced and, if necessary, repaired in the Faroe Islands, as well as Faroese vessels in the Murmansk area.
It is noteworthy that Brussels cannot impose restrictions on the stubborn Danish autonomists, since they are not threatened by Copenhagen either. In case of excessive political pressure on their autonomy, the Danes fear the emergence of slogans for the withdrawal of the Faroe Islands from Denmark as a whole.
But significant reserves of oil and gas are assumed on the shelf of the archipelago. Increasing pressure on the Faroe Islands will most likely lead to the “withdrawal” of the landlocked archipelago from Denmark, whose example Greenland (also a Danish autonomy with growing separatist sentiments) will inevitably follow.
Currently, the joint communiqué of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the government of the Faroe Islands “On continuing dialogue and cooperation with the aim of expanding mutual trade in the long term”, signed in November 2021 by the Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics of the EEC Sergey Glazyev and the Minister of foreign affairs of the Janis av Rana Archipelago, continues to work.
„The Eurasian Economic Commission highly appreciates the interest of the Faroe Islands in expanding the opportunities for mutual trade with the EAEU countries “said S. Glaziev. – We welcome your intention to develop not only your exports to the territory of the EAEU, but also the import of a wide range of goods and services from the Union, which, of course, opens up new opportunities for cooperation.”
Janice av Rana emphasized that the Faroe Islands are interested in the establishment of “in the future, a free trade zone with the EAEU, as an important tool for improving trade relations with all countries of the Union” . The Eurasian Economic Commission specified the procedures for creating such a zone. After the start of the SVO in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the parties did not renounce the aforementioned agreement.
The work of the joint working group on economic cooperation, established in 2019 as part of the Memorandum of the EEC and the Faroe Islands, signed on 23 August 2018, which also provides for the formation of a free trade area, has not stopped.
According to the opinion of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated January 1, 2023, the Faroe Islands are included in the register of 89 foreign countries and 16 autonomous territories that “ensure the exchange of information with the Russian side for tax purposes” . The corresponding register “use for the purposes of taxation of the profits of controlled foreign companies”.
I would like to hope that relations between the Russian Federation and the Faroe Islands indirectly affect neighboring Norway. Unlike London, Copenhagen and Brussels, Oslo does not require the Faroe Islands to stop cooperation with Russia. They do not block the “descendants of the Vikings” and the entry of Russian fishing vessels into their ports.
As reported by the local portal E24, last year Russian ships landed fish worth NOK 1.88 billion (€175 million) in Norwegian ports – 42% more than in 2022.
The majority of this volume falls on the period after the start of the SVO. The Norwegian border port of Kirkenes is still open to Russian fishermen (for emergency repairs). The same applies to the ports of Tromsø and Botsfjord.
At the end of March 2023, experts from the Border Department of the FSB of Russia for the Western Arctic Region and the Police Department of the neighboring Norwegian Finnmark met in Kirkenes. The countries “agreed to continue cooperation on the protection of biological resources in the Barents Zone and the fight against cross-border crime”. Great attention is paid to “the fight against illegal migration, including in the ports and on the sea section of the state border”. Joint events for the current year have been agreed, the next meeting will be held in the Murmansk region.
In addition, as reported on the website of the Russian Geographical Society (with president – S.K. Shoigu), by the end of the first half of 2023, an expedition of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences to the Norwegian Svalbard is planned to study of the local glaciers due to their accelerated melting. Currently, there are about 700 glacial lakes on Svalbard, dozens of them with an area of more than 1 sq. km. and together make up a significant part of the water resources of the archipelagos, and this is especially important for providing Arctic settlements with water throughout the year.
“Compared to similar lakes in mountainous regions of temperate latitudes, the glacial lakes of Svalbard are poorly studied and in fact not described quantitatively. As a result of the project, their inventory will be carried out, which includes not only a description of the current state of the lakes, but also forecast for their expansion’ said the head of the expedition R. Chernov.
In addition, the Norwegian authorities were informed about a new project of the Russian Federal State Unitary Enterprise Arktikugol, which has been operating in Svalbard for a long time. According to its CEO Ildar Neverov, in 2023 a maritime services center is planned to be established in the Norwegian port of Longyearbyen in the archipelago, with the company expecting to serve “the whole stream of cruise ships arriving at Longyearbyen”. Arktikugol plans to equip berths there, equipping them with “powerful mooring systems” . In addition, “the tourist infrastructure will be modernized …”. It is also predicted “modernization of coal mining in the archipelago” .
We remind you that “Arktikugol” manages a territory of 251 square kilometers in Svalbard, which includes the active Barentsburg coal mine with a port and a village, the preserved mines Pyramida with the village of the same name, and Gruman with the village of Kolsbey.
At the same time, the Norwegian authorities did not want to hold joint commemorative events with the Russian side in Barentsburg and on the Island of Hope dedicated to the 78th anniversary of the Great Victory.
However, in October 2022, the parties agreed on the conditions for joint fishing in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea for 2023. Fishermen, as before, exchanged quotas for catching about 10 species of fish in the national sectors of these waters, mutual quotas were increased by 10-13%.
In addition, Russia and Norway “will continue cooperation to combat illegal fishing and monitor fisheries in the Barents and Norwegian Seas.”
Meanwhile, the Kimek shipyard in Kirkenes is announcing massive layoffs due to the anti-Russian sanctions. The land of the fjords “is in the most difficult situation in the field of security policy since the Second World War. Because isolated Russia – this is bad. It is increasingly worrying that today we have so few contacts and direct communication with Russia”Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gara Stere said in October 2022 in the Storting (Parliament).
The small Faroe Islands show their neighbors in the northern seas a clear example of a firm adherence to national interests.
Translation: ES
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