Russia and China eye NATO's 'Arctic Achilles heel'

Barentsburg, Svalbard (AFP) June 29, 2022

Russian flags flap in the stiff polar breeze, a bust of Lenin looms out of the snow and a vast slogan declares, "Communism is our goal!" No, this is not some time warp Soviet settlement lost in the Arctic wastes, but a corner of Norway where Moscow can - theoretically at least - mine, build, drill and fish what it likes. Welcome to Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archip