Arctic expeditions stranded in Russia

The Aftenposten newspaper says a power-play among Russian bureaucrats has stranded three expeditions that planned to trek over the North Pole this spring.

Liv Arnesen of Norway and her partner Ann Bancroft of the United States are among those stuck in the Siberian town of Khatanga.

Bancroft and Arnesen want to ski and ski-sail over the frozen Arctic Ocean and around the North Pole.

But Arnesen told the Aftenposten newspaper that she and Bancroft have become pawns “in a bigger game” that involves powerful players in Moscow who are vying to control tourism in parts of the Arctic.

The Norwegian Embassy in Moscow has tried to intervene, and Russian authorities issued all the papers and permits needed to make the part of the polar expedition that goes over Russian territory.

But in mid-March, Russian soldiers carrying Kalishnikov weapons surrounded the two helicopters Arnesen and Bancroft planned to use to fly to their starting point of Cape Arktichesky.

The soldiers showed up, Arnesen said, after they had loaded their equipment into the helicopters.

“Military authorities in Murmansk have, after orders from someone in Moscow, called the airport and given orders that we can’t fly north,” said Arnesen.

Arnesen said the 2,750-kilometer expedition around the North Pole to Ward Hunt Island should have started by February 25.

They need to reach the North Pole by the end of April to get back over the ice to Canada.

Two other expeditions are also stuck in Khatanga, one involving a British woman going solo and another with adventurers from the Netherlands, the U.S. and Norway.