Norway in the Arctic: The ears and eyes of the High North

In this episode of What’s New?, Serafima Andreeva speaks with Iselin Nemeth Winther from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute about how Norway understands and navigates the Arctic today.

The conversation begins by clarifying that the Arctic is not a remote periphery for Norway, but an integrated part of the country. Nearly nine per cent of the population lives in the Norwegian Arctic, which includes cities such as Tromsø, Bodø, and Kirkenes, as well as universities, hospitals, and transport infrastructure. Compared to many other Arctic countries, Norway’s north closely resembles the rest of the country in terms of governance and everyday life.

The episode then explores how the Arctic has become a centrepiece of Norwegian foreign policy. Large maritime zones in the north give Norway international weight and make the region economically and strategically important. As a result, the Arctic functions both as a domestic region and as a key arena for international politics.

Security is a central theme throughout the discussion. Norway’s border with Russia and its proximity to Russian nuclear forces on the Kola Peninsula make the region strategically significant for both Norway and NATO. While Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession has strengthened the Alliance, Norway’s role remains distinct, with a long-standing focus on the maritime domain in the Barents Sea and the North Atlantic. Norwegian policymakers often describe the country as NATO’s eyes and ears in the High North.

The episode also examines Norway’s new High North strategy, which places greater emphasis on security than earlier policies. This includes both military concerns and a broader understanding of security that encompasses infrastructure, transport, total preparedness, and population. The strategy marks a shift by explicitly identifying China as a factor of concern in the Arctic.

A key part of the discussion focuses on Norwegian-Russian fisheries cooperation, one of the few areas of continued cooperation after 2022. The episode explains why the joint management of the world’s largest cod stock remains vital, how EU sanctions on Russian fishing companies have affected the agreement, and why Norway cannot easily step away without long-term consequences for sustainability.

The conversation concludes by addressing Norway’s broader dilemma in the Arctic. Norway depends on the United States for security, must manage relations with Russia, and at the same time seeks closer cooperation with Nordic partners, the EU, and other like-minded countries. The episode ends with a reminder that while political dynamics change, the Arctic, its ecosystems, and its long-term challenges will remain.

Transcript

Serafima: Welcome to What's New, I'm your host. My name is Serafima Andreeva, and today with me, I have Iselin Nemeth Winther, a researcher at the Fritjof Nansen Institute. And we will talk about Norway in the Arctic. Thank you for joining us, Iselin. Iselin: Nice to be here. Nice to be here. I'm glad to have you here. Serafima: So what is the Arctic for Norway? Iselin: I would perhaps start with saying that the Arctic for Norway is a very integrated part of the country. Although it's like less people living there, more distances, it very much resembles the rest of the state. So it's compared to many of the other Arctic states, it has big cities, at least in a Norwegian context, like Tromsø, Bodø, Kirkenes, and also there's universities, hospitals. Actually, 9% of the Norwegian population is living in the Norwegian Arctic. It's pretty much an integrated part of the rest of the country. Serafima: Great, that's great to hear, and it's not really the case for all the Arctic states. Norway is very unique there. But when Norway views and looks at Arctic affairs and Arctic politics, how does it view them? Are they primarily domestic, or is it international politics that is taking the center stage? Iselin: I think that it's kind of all of those, but most importantly, since the turn of the decade, the Arctic has been a centerpiece of the Norwegian foreign policy at large. The Norwegian, all the different governments have paid a lot of emphasis on the Arctic in their foreign policies, exactly because what you said in the north, Norway, or the north is making Norway a major power in a way. We have large maritime zones up in the Arctic, and the area is important internationally, both economically and strategically. So the Norwegian state is kind of using the Arctic for what it's worth in their foreign policy. Iselin: The region is also very important for Norwegian security politics. Both because we're bordering Russia, so it's important for the national defense policies, but also because of the nuclear weapons based on the Kola Peninsula. We're very close to the Norwegian border, which is also making the area strategically important internationally and for NATO. Serafima: So, and you mentioned NATO, I'm just thinking about one thing, and we have now Finland and Sweden in NATO. How does Norway handle that in terms of the Arctic? Because Norway has kind of been the Arctic Russia flank, and now it's not the only one, now we have Finland's border as well. Iselin: Yeah, I think, of course, the Alliance has been strengthened because of Sweden and Finland. When they joined the Alliance, and I don't see it as a competition between those states because Norway has since the early 2000s paid a lot of attention to the maritime domain in the Arctic and the Barents Sea and the Atlantic Sea, where the Finnish focus is more on the land forces and also Finland and Sweden are paying a lot of attention to the Baltic Sea. So still the Barents Sea and the Atlantic Sea is kind of Norway's domain. Norwegian politicians like to say that they are the ears and eyes in the high north. NATO's ears and eyes. Serafima: I mean, Norway also has a new High North strategy that recently came out. And we can see that some things have changed, some threat perceptions have changed maybe. Are there any lessons we should learn from the High North strategy? Iselin: So usually Norway has paid a lot of attention to cooperation in its policies, but this year it's been a lot more reality-oriented. So it pays a lot of attention to security, both in the military and defense way of looking at security, but also it looks at security in a more holistic way. So the security kind of emphasis is more apparent than before. And that's mainly in regard to Russia. But where we actually see a shift is that the policies also mention China as something to be concerned about in the Arctic. And that's something new for a Norwegian Arctic strategy. Serafima: You mentioned a holistic view of security. Is adding China the holistic way, or is it something else that makes it holistic? Iselin: I'm thinking more about the strategies referring to total preparedness and to the subsea cables from the Norwegian mainland to Svalbard. So it's kind of taking into account infrastructure, total preparedness, transport in a larger degree than before. And also that's a very typical Norwegian thing to do, but both the national and the local governments are paying a lot of attention to how people are a cornerstone for national security. And that link is becoming more apparent on many government levels in Norway. And I think that's for the local governments' parts, it's also linked to the shrinking of population in the north. So by using people as a security kind of factor, you also bring attention to that you need people in the north. Serafima: You mentioned how Norway is this maritime power, whereas Finland or Sweden are more land-based. So there is a separation there. Norway has also, I mean, this is very unique for Norway because they have also cooperated in this maritime domain with Russia for quite some time. And one of these things that they've cooperated on are fisheries, the largest cod stock in the world for Russia and Norway have been cooperating since the time of the Soviet Union, actually. But now this cooperation is on very, very thin ice. So what is happening now? What has happened? Iselin: After Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, all cooperation with Russia was put on hold. But one of the things that were not put on hold was this fishery agreement because both countries want sustainable fisheries or to secure sustainable fisheries of this fish stock. But this summer, the EU was putting sanctions on two of the largest fishing companies in Russia. And Norway decided to do the same. And this was, of course, not that welcomed in Russia. Serafima: But you mentioned that this is part of the sanctions pack from the EU. Is this directly the sanctions? Are they directly affecting the fisheries, or is the reaction of the fisheries relationship between Russia and Norway? Is the reaction kind of coming from outside of it? Are the sanctions directly affecting the cooperation? Iselin: By joining the sanctions, Norway is not allowing those two companies to fish in the Norwegian economic zones as they used to be able to. And kind of prohibiting two large Russian fishing companies from fishing in the Norwegian zones, which again made Russia kind of not too happy with the Norwegian choice to join the sanctions. Serafima: What do you think it would take then for the agreement to kind of be on stable ground? Because this is what's very interesting, what we've seen in terms of cooperation between Russia and Norway after 2022. For example, in other places such as the Arctic Council, where also cooperation was put on hold, there were a lot of restrictions, but then there was the systematic diplomatic work between Norway and Russia to make sure that things go smoothly and the cooperation is back again. And now all of the Arctic states cooperate somewhat fine. So I would assume that there is, or I can ask you, do you think that there is an interest from the Norwegian side and maybe also from the Russian side to maintain this cooperation, or is there primarily an interest for Norway to end it? Iselin: It's not an interest for Norway to end it. I just think Norway has been put into a difficult position because with the new developments both with Russia from 2022 and also the election of Donald Trump, Norway is really trying to be on good foot with the EU. Norway is not an EU state, but we're trying to tighten the cooperation and probably therefore that's also the reason we are joining the sanctions. But contrary, this agreement is so important for Norway. If Russian trawlers and vessels are starting to fish in their zones, it's going to affect the fish in the Norwegian zones. Or if they don't agree on the same quota, it's going to affect both of them. So kind of the stock is dependent on Norway and Russia to agree or have some sort of agreement, and you pointing to Norway and Russian cooperation like historically cooperation and kind of the dialogue in the Arctic Council, and I think this tradition for Norway and Russia to actually find solutions together would be very helpful in this situation as well. Serafima: Absolutely. You mentioned Donald Trump. And this has kind of been an elephant in the room because so far we've only been dealing with one state that wants to call itself a great power. But we actually have two states which are actually disrupting a bit in the Arctic. And Norway is finding itself in the middle of this security threat, which is Russia, but also this state which does not really count climate change as a justifiable concern. The United States administration does not view climate change as the threat that it should view climate change as. And this affects also all kinds of Arctic politics. And not only that, but also saying that they want to buy Greenland, you know, there's a lot of expansionist ambitions there as well. But all a bit of a different format. How can Norway navigate this in the future? I mean, you mentioned Norway. This is the Arctic is the place where Norway has this, you power almost in line with the US or Russia, or at least it's a player in the same league. So what can Norway do? Iselin: I think Norway is in a really hard position because we're absolutely dependent on the US for security issues. And we have also, like during the last decades, we've actually had a really, really strong, not only relationship with NATO, but also a bilateral relationship with the US when it comes to security in Norway. So we're highly dependent on the US, but still, we want to, Norway still wants to support the rule-based order, if you can say it that way. So what we see is that Norway is kind of trying to cooperate closer with the other Nordic states, also in security and Arctic issues, also cooperate closer with the EU, with Canada, with so-called like-minded states that are actually still trying to prevent climate change and still want to uphold that multilateralism. Trying to build closer ties to more like-minded states is also apparent in the Arctic. And it has more and more discussion has been on if it's possible to kind of make frameworks within the Arctic six, which is kind of this new term referring to the Nordic states and Canada. But still, I think all these small to middle power states are pretty aware that they have to some extent have to kind of rely on the states, US as well. I think Norway and other Nordic states are in a hard position. Serafima: This is a fantastic illustration of this international relations up in the north. For example, Norway saying for a long time, we can't choose our neighbors or we can't choose our geography, which is Russia. Also, they cannot choose the dependence on the United States in this security situation now. So there is this balancing. No, there's a lot of challenges. I have only one last question for you, and that is for the future. Let's say that you can give any tips to a Norwegian decision maker making the Norwegian Arctic policy. If you would say one tip or one concern that is important to keep in mind, what would you say? Iselin: I think it's important to remember that the Arctic will always be there, but the actors, the political leaders, the different political dynamics will change. So even though it feels now like cooperation with Russia is completely impossible and to a certain degree it is, for example, the fish stock will always or hopefully always be there. So I think we need to keep in mind also like climate change is going to be an issue after Putin, after Donald Trump. So trying to keep in mind the threads, the threads that will affect the Arctic also in 20, 30, 40 years ahead. Serafima: Exactly, and that's a great reflection. I mean, the climate and the Arctic, it has been shaped for millennia, right? So it's going to be there for many more years to come, even after us and even after the leaders of today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. And thank you for listening.