19 April 2015, 04:02 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Norwegian authorities will summon Russia’s ambassador to Oslo over Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin's recent trip to the Svalbard archipelago, Foreign Minister Borge Brende said Sunday.
Rogozin arrived on Svalbard on Saturday, to start a small Arctic expedition with the aim of assessing the level of technology needed for future Arctic exploration.
“We strongly regret this, and the foreign ministry will summon the Russian ambassador tomorrow and ask for an explanation,” Brende told the local TV2 broadcaster.
Svalbard is under the full sovereignty of Norway, which has, alongside the European Union, blacklisted a number of Russian individuals over their alleged involvement in the Ukrainian internal crisis.
According to TV2’s Svalbard reporter, Norway does not require an identity check of persons arriving at the archipelago, but Norwegian authorities must receive passenger lists 48 hours in advance.
