Maritime affairs and fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki has urged the EU to be "at the forefront" of efforts to protect the arctic region.

The environmental organisation WWF has sent a letter to the Russian Federal Environmental Control Service where it accuses the Shtokman Development AG of serious violations of environmental legislation.

Russian fishermen in Arctic waters are worried that the Norwegian-Russian agreement on delineation of the Barents Sea and Polar Sea will not take their interests in consideration and only favor the oil and gas sector.

(CNN) -- A massive ice island four times the size of Manhattan that broke off the Petermann Glacier early last month has split in two.

The Norwegian Polar Institute and the Polar Institute of China have concluded an agreement on cooperation on Polar research.

Russia intends to turn the far northern Yamal Peninsula into the country’s new main gas hub, which is to account for one third of the country’s production. That will cost money, up to eight trillion RUB, a new development program for the area reads.

The Shtokman Development AG has signed a plan of cooperation with the far northern and oil-rich Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

The Norwegian-Russian agreement on border delineation in the Barents Sea will officially be signed in Murmansk next week. Both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will attend the document signing ceremony.

Global warming will make cities in northern countries like Canada and Scandinavia the next big global economic powers, a senior academic has predicted. Towns in these areas will become 'migration magnets' as previously frozen assets become usable.

The leader of the Russian General Staff on Friday met with leader of the EU Military Committee to discuss ways to strengthen military cooperation.