KIRKENES: U.S. Ambassador to Norway Barry B. White says there is no competition for resources or a race for the Arctic. “We all have a common interest in preserving the Arctic area even as we pursue sustainable development.”

KIRKENES: The Barents Spektakel festival in Kirkenes is larger than ever. One of the main attractions of the 2012 festival is the five young accordionists from North Korea. See the video of their first performance in Kirkenes.

The energy giant looks towards the Timan Pechora province.

KIRKENES: Transnational ideas and interaction is a powerful engine for development, Guvernor Dmitry Dmitriyenko says in the Kirkenes Conference.

Russia constructs a fleet of new corvettes and frigates.

Kirkenes is preparing for the Barents Spektakel 2012 festival. Stages for performances are being built, concerts are being rehearsed, people are arriving from near and far.

Next January marks the 20th anniversary of signing the Kirkenes declaration establishing the Barents cooperation. Norway now wants to take successful cross-border cooperation a step further and asks for input to a Kirkenes declaration, part II.

Radio Barents 111 is a theatre performance which tries to explore life along the border in the north. Miles away from foreign minister’s negotiations on border regulations; the Samovarteateret wants to figure out why people live in the far north of Europe.

Gazprom intends to invest $7 million in the Shtokman project this year.

More and more Russians and Chinese tourists visit Kirkenes. Global tourism trends are affecting the snow hotel in Kirkenes.

Norway is urgently expanding its border station to Russia to meet booming traffic. The new constructions will however soon be demolished to clear the way for a brand new border station.

Russian authorities have boosted military salaries to unprecedented levels. Military servicemen in Murmansk now earn twice as much as others.

Very low levels of the radioactive isotope iodine-131 in northern part of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Norwegian Radiation authorities is unsure about the source, but says it might come from, or via Russian territory.

One of Russia´s top offshore exploration companies might be up for sale.

Igor Orlov is suggested by Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev as Governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast.