UK's plan for Arctic island base: How Boris was urged to buy £250m stretch to fend off Putin years BEFORE Ukraine crisis

The Sun

30-05-2025

A REMOTE Arctic base which would have bolstered British strength in the region whilst fending off Putin years before he invaded Ukraine was nearly bought by Boris Johnson.
The bombshell revelation was made by a former minister who said he urged his old boss Johnson to purchase a key stretch of Norwegian land in the Arctic when it was on sale for £250million.
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Tobias Ellwood told The i Paper that he encouraged the then Foreign Secretary Johnson to make a bid for land in the Svalbard archipelago in 2016 to improve influence and security in the region.
The revelation comes amid spiralling concern over Russia 's soaring presence in the ever more important Arctic.
Experts have named the High North as a crucial flashpoint for future worldwide conflicts with nations set to battle for territory there.
Donald Trump has made attempts to increase US presence there, threatening to take the Danish territory of Greenland " one way or another".
And Ellwood said the Arctic was a "huge issue, and one that for a long time has been recognised as an area where European, and British particularly, security, could be vulnerable".
The UK has also made recent attempts to curb Russian strength there, especially after scheming Vladimir Putin positioned troops on the border of NATO member Finland earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the Foreign Office announced sanctions interrupting the journey of the Vengery tugboat.
The Vengery was set to tow a colossal 200-metre-long floating dock, designed to help Russia repair its nuclear-powered ice-breakers.
These specialised machines are necessary for carving safe passages through frozen Arctic waters.
The UK also renewed an "ambitious new UK-Norway defence agreement" and pledged to leverage AI to "detect hostile state activity in the Arctic".
And Foreign Secretary David Lammy began a visit of Norway and Iceland on Tuesday - Britain's two nearest Arctic neighbours.
Putin's chilling Arctic war warning as tensions rise over US Greenland stance
He told The Telegraph: "The Arctic is fast becoming an area of intense focus for geopolitical competition – and a key flank of NATO's defences.
"Russia has been building up its military presence here for years."
The visit also came as British troops are actively training in Norway as part of a broader NATO effort to deter mad Vlad.
Some 90,000 troops are taking part in Exercise Steadfast Defender to rehearse NATO's response to a Russian invasion.
The new revelation that Johnson nearly bought a remote Arctic base in 2016 detailed why the Government failed to acquire Austre Adventfjord.
The small Norwegian stretch of land sits across the fjord from the Svalbard town of Longyearbyen.
It was put on sale by the Norwegian Horn family in 2016.
Ellwood said: "[Arctic security] came up when Boris Johnson was foreign secretary, and I was foreign minister, and I tried to get him to buy a bit of Svalbard.
"Svalbard is a group of islands and they're quite strategically important."
He explained: "We were ahead of our time and [got] pushed back by [the] Civil Service and others."
Ellwood highlighted how it would 'certainly have been useful to have assets there, to monitor traffic'.
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They also planned to operate satellites there to track the threat of Putin.
The former minister highlighted why it would have been a great advantage to have bought the territory in hindsight.
He said: "For different reasons, it made sense for us to establish a base there, and sadly, it was never to be.
"Norway is a close ally, there's no doubt about it, but this was a wonderful opportunity, which sadly we did miss.
Ellwood continued: "This is exactly why Trump wants to buy Greenland, because the growing disorder we're seeing is seeing every country defend their immediate surrounds."
Austre Adventfjord had also received interest from a Chinese billionaire when the Horn family put in on sale in 2016.
But it was quickly snapped up by the Norwegian state for £21million, possibly due to the security threat a Chinese-owned territory could pose there.
The Foreign Office did not deny that discussions had taken place over Ellwood's recommendation to Johnson and the Foreign Office in 2016.
Another separate Svalbard island also came up for sale in 2024 - but a Foreign Office source confirmed there were no discussions of purchasing it.
It is understood that the current Government believes any territory purchased there now would not give the UK a strategic advantage due to the Svalbard Treaty, which restricts military use of the land.
However, the chair of the UK Space Agency said Svalbard is already 'one of the most active centres for the collection of satellite data anywhere in the world and an intense scene of strategic competition'.
Additionally, European security expert Ed Arnold said that purchasing land in Svalbard would make the UK an Arctic state.
This title would boost diplomatic prominence in the region and provide an argument for the UK to join the Arctic Council.
Seven of the current eight Arctic Council members are NATO allies, excluding Russia.
Ellwood emphasised the importance of Arctic presence, saying: "The significance of the Arctic is all the more important because of the melting ice caps.
"It's going to become ever busier… Because this is new and unfolding, Russia has been quick to plant flags in the sea, making territorial claims."
He added: "Ultimately, this is testing NATO, because it's a new geographical domain we've not really got our heads around.
"Russia is advancing at an incredible rate of knots and therefore there's a greater responsibility to hold Russia in check, not just in Ukraine, not just on the Finnish border, but also at sea as well."
The former minister highlighted Russia's long-lasting attempts to seek influence in the region.
"The Russians prioritised the Arctic from the 2010s and really, NATO sort of de-prioritised it after the Cold War," he said.
"It noticed what Russia was doing, but didn't really respond to it, because they don't want to provoke Russia."
It comes as Vladimir Putin continues to invest heavily in his prized Northern Fleet.
The Russian tyrant now possesses 18 nuclear-powered submarines and warships equipped with hypersonic missiles.
He has also as Moscow increases its risk appetite in the Arctic, given its already strained relationship with NATO countries.
It also comes as Trump is continuing efforts the take the autonomous Arctic island of Greenland, pressing to acquire it either through purchase or military force.
The President said the US 'needs Greenland for international security ', but also emphasised the potential benefits of mining natural resources across the island.
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