Share of people infected with entrepreneurial spirit in Russia is relatively low. Particularly, the Russian North does not bring optimistic figures either.

According to the entrepreneurship study 2011 by GEM, Russia’s zeal for business is lagging behind multitude of developed and developing countries. What is also disappointing is that number of businessmen is growing at a slower pace than in other countries.

An annual show initiated by the former governor is cancelled this year for financial reasons.

Arctic International Economic forum goes off schedule 2012 due to its enormous costs. Marina Kovtun promises other Arctic-related events to fill the sudden gap.

According to calculations of the Murmansk customs for January – March 2012, the external trade turnover of the Murmansk region made up $ 1.5 billion.

In terms of volumes, the flow decreased by 41.7% as compared to the same period of 2011.

Energy dimension will be the most important driver of increased interest in the High North in both political and business circles globally, says Gahr Store in Warsaw.

Norwegian Foreign Minister takes part in the state visit to Poland, which started on Wednesday. In his keynote speech, the Minister ventilates the issue of driving forces that lay the basis for Norway’s foreign policy in the High North.

Wednesday, Marina Kovtun re-starts discussions with a Moscow-based investor which is about to develop a passengers’ terminal in the Murmansk port.

Murmansk authorities and ZAO Olympic City are revising investment options for the project that involves contribution of both state and private funds.

Today, a newly-recruited Murmansk governor Marina Kovtun and a Chairman of Finnmark Council Runar Sjåstad held an introductory meeting in Murmansk.

Main topic on the discussion agenda is a visa-free travel between the neighbouring areas.

Road fund 2012 of the Murmansk region reaches 1.649 billion rubles.

Murmansk road laws get amended to share the fund’s money with municipalities. The fund will subsidize repair works on municipal roads and driveways in between houses.

A real spy story is firing up in Yekaterinburg. An employee of the closed-access enterprise is accused of having shared Bulava secrets with foreign intelligence services.

Reportedly, a suspect has allegedly given away sensitive information on control system of the Bulava missile. Investigation is underway.

Prompted by masterminds of the local web community, citizens of Murmansk are debating over reasons to love the city and to live “at the end of the earth”.

So far the discussion has brought about 200 feedbacks within a month and is still counting. The results will be published in a dedicated e-book.