Navalny, Nord Stream 2, and the Arctic

Moscow

On December 23, 2019, Ruslan Shaveddinov, a project manager at Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, was forcibly removed from his home in the nation's capital. His SIM card was remotely disabled and he was unable to contact anyone for 24 hours.

Rogachovo, Novaya Zemlya

The next day, Shaveddinov, who has previously encountered issues with the Russian government, made contact using someone else's cell phone from Rogachovo, a military base for Russia's Joint Strategic Command North located on the forbidding archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. It was the dead of winter.

Chirakina, Novaya Zemlya

Shaveddinov was later transferred to Unit 26984 in Chirakina, located on the strait separating Novaya Zemlya's northern and southern islands. Formerly named Severny, the site was the hub for underground nuclear weapons testing on Novaya Zemlya from the 1960s-1990s. You can still see the roads leading up to the mountains into which were carved adits, or tunnels with one opening, to contain the nuclear bomb detonations. Most of the time, the walls worked.

"I live in a box."

So testified Shavvedinov during a hearing in Arkhangelsk in February 2020, when the Anti-Corruption Foundation sued the Russian government arguing that his treatment and lack of communication with the outside world was inhumane. It turns out that the dissident-turned-conscript was not living in Chirakina, but rather an even tinier outpost to the west.

Some enterprising individual took to Google Maps to turn the "box" into a location labelled "Shavvedinov Gas Station."

Ugolnye Kopi

In June 2020, Artyem Ionov, another one of the 30 employees at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, was forced onto a plane from Moscow to Blagoveshchensk, in the Russian Far East, before  being sent to Ugolnye Kopi  ("Village of Coal Mines") in Chukotka to work, reportedly, on heavy long-range aviation.

Tomsk

In mid-August 2020, Navalny canvassed in the leafy, liberal university town of Tomsk, in the middle of Siberia, for local politicians opposed to Putin. On the morning of August 20, before departing on flight S7 2614 to Moscow, he drank a cup of tea at the airport.

A Bulgarian DJ who happened to be sitting near him clandestinely photographed him and uploaded the picture to his Instagram account with the cheeky caption, "Good morning Alexei."

Omsk Airport

After agonized screams were heard from the lavatory, the flight made an emergency landing at Omsk Airport. The cup of tea that Navalny drank had been laced with Novichok, a Russian nerve agent, as German, French, and Swedish laboratories each later independently confirmed.

Charité Hospital, Berlin

While Navalny was first treated in a hospital in Omsk, the Russian government ultimately agreed to let him be evacuated to Germany for treatment on August 22. He was put into a medically induced coma at the heavily armed Charité Hospital in Berlin.

On September 7, Navalny emerged from his coma. One week later, he posted to Instagram that he was able to breathe on his own and walk around.

Lubmin, Germany

Yet the story doesn't end with Navalny awakening in Berlin. 175 kilometers north on the shores of the Baltic Sea, plans are under way to finish construction on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would deliver natural gas to Europe from Russia's Yamal Peninula.

Bovanenkovo, Yamal Peninsula

Nord Stream 2 has enjoyed the backing of Germany and many other European countries. But that support could now be at risk due to the fallout over Navalny. If German Chancellor Angela Merkel decides to use the pipeline as a political bargaining tool or cancel it altogether, this could seriously damage relations with Russia. It could also result in a diminished role for Yamal gas supplies for Europe in the long term, and instead, an increasing reliance on export markets in Asia.

Plunge into the pipeline

To read more, click through to the full Cryopolitics blog post exploring the linkages between Navalny, Nord Stream 2, and the Arctic:  https://www.cryopolitics.com/2020/09/16/navalny-nord-stream/