Pic related is a picture of a town in a NATO country where nearly every citizen misses the USSR and praises Socialism and Bolsheviks.
>>18122599>Barentsburg (Russian: Бapeнцбypг) is the second-largest settlement in Svalbard, Norway, with about 300 inhabitants (2025).[a] A coal mining town, the settlement is almost entirely made up of Russian nationals.Gee, I wonder why.
>>18122599>>18122692Based Barentsburgers
>>18122692Yes, if the cyrilic writing in the image didn’t give it away it is a Russian ethnoclave within the “Fascist EU” as Putin and Lavrov say. Lenin is in current day essentially a symbol of an enemy nation and it is brazenly displayed within Europe in this town. The town is interesting to me for where it is located. The town has Orthodox crosses and May 9 victory day parades like a town on the mainland and the Norwegian government can’t do anything to ban it.
>>18122692This is such a funny troll move. They held a Victory over Fascism parade on May 9 and invited the head of the local liberal gov representative in Svalbard to attend.>>In 2022, Russia announced new investment plans to support its presence in Barentsburg and Pyramiden.[6] Then, in 2023, amid continuing tensions around Russia's war against Ukraine, the Russian Consulate General and Arktikugol staged a May 9 Day victory parade through Barentsburg consisting of 50 cars, snowmobiles, trucks and buses and also including a low-flying Mi-8 helicopter. While the Governor of Svalbard, Lars Fause, was reportedly invited to attend, he declined.[7] According to a report in the Economist in 2025, relations between Russian and other towns were better during the Cold War, with residents ending visits on national days.[8]>>>The Russian parades are more militaristic nowadays [...] and involve symbols of cultural difference such as a wooden Orthodox cross. A few Soviet flags have been painted on structures in Barentsburg. Russians can enter Svalbard, visa free, if they travel by boat from Murmansk. One pro-Putin bishop has paid repeated visits to be filmed beside Orthodox religious items.
>>18122599>>18122768>>18122692Interesting. I knew about Svalbard b4 but I had no idea there was a town there made up entirely of Russians.
>>18122599It even has that slavic beaten-down grim vibe
>>18123017Meant for>>18122692
>>18123011Historical tidbit- taxes in Svalbard only go to local upkeep and the like so none of the taxes paid by the Russian company go to the Oslo gov/ Ukraine.
>>18123017This was actually one of the freest Russian towns to live in with one of the highest standards of living during the Cold War as technically it wasn’t on Soviet soil nor subject to Soviet economic planning and rule. It serves as a Potemkin village of sorts with the highest quality computers, cars and technology being shipped here. Since Scandinavians/ Europeans could visit it without visa they hoped that visitors would be awed by the town as well as the two neighboring towns on the island of Svalbard. By 2000, the other two towns were shut down.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dDiK-H2qq98&pp=ygUSQmFyZW50c2J1cmcgUnVzc2lh
>>18122599Do they have some kind of genetic predisposition to building and living in depressing commieblocks? It's Norway, they can afford to build better things.
