Russian lawmaker wants to build prison for ‘terrorists’ at Svalbard

Member of Parliament Ivan Sukharev proposes to establish a high-security jail in the Norwegian archipelago.

The prison that is to exclusively house ‘terrorists’ must be built in the Arctic, Sukharev argues.

The politician wants it to be located either at Svalbard or the Novaya Zemlya, the Russian version of the Barents Observer reports.

Sukharev has already sent a letter with the proposal to the leader of Russian Federal Penitentiary Service.

According to Russian state propaganda news agency RIA Novosti, the politician argues that the Arctic is the best suited place because “the terrorists have no nationality or religion” and because the remote isolation “prevents the spreading of the extremist views among inmates.”

Ivan Sukharev represents the so-called Liberal Democratic Party and has been a member of the State Duma since 2011. He comes from the Ural region of Bashkiria.

Like the rest of the State Duma, Sukharev is strongly loyal to the Kremlin. He is staunch supporter of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and is on a number of international sanctions lists, among them of the EU,  USA, Canada and Norway.

According to Sukharev, the establishment of the special security prison in Svalbard is about “putting a stop to such a harmful and terrible phenomenon as terrorism.”

“We are talking about the lives and health of citizens of Russia, as well as national security,” he says.

The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard has a Russian settlement in Barentsburg. Norwegian law fully applies across the islands.

Russian repressive authorities have over the past years radically expanded the interpretation of terrorism and extremism. A big number of anti-war activists, journalists and regime-critics are today in jail on charges of “terrorism” and “extremism”.

Located in Kirkenes, Norway, just a few kilometres from the borders to Russia and Finland, the Barents Observer is dedicated to cross-border journalism in Scandinavia, Russia and the wider Arctic.

As a non-profit stock company that is fully owned by its reporters, its editorial decisions are free of regional, national or private-sector influence. It has been a partner to ABJ and its predecessors since 2016.