Iceland–Russia relations
Encyclopedia
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Russia has an embassy in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
. Iceland has an embassy in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, and two honorary consulates in Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Both countries have close ties in financing, which has strengthened the relations between the two. Iceland also called Russia its "new friend" due to saving the country from an economic crisis.
History
Direct diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Iceland were established on October 4, 1943. In December of 1955 the missions in Moscow and Reykjavik were upgraded to embassies. From 1975 to 1991 a trade representative of USSR was in Iceland and Russia had one in Iceland from 1991 to 1995. In 1997 the first Russian-Icelandic dictionary was published by Helgi Haraldsson.The President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is the fifth and current President of Iceland. He has served as President since 1996; he was unopposed in 2000, re-elected for a third term in 2004, and re-elected unopposed for a fourth term in 2008. He is the longest-serving left-wing president in the history of...
went to Russia from April 18, 2002 to April 24, 2002. Grimsson visited Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod and Salekhard.
In 2008 Prime Minister Geir Haarde
Geir Haarde
Geir Hilmar Haarde was Prime Minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009 and Chairman of the Icelandic Independence Party from 2005 to 2009. Geir initially led a coalition between his party and the Progressive Party...
sent a delegation Russia to negotiate a £3bn (€4bn) capital injection into the country's finances, after the country's traditional Western allies refused to help the collapsing banking system. The loan was later renegotiated to $500 mln after Iceland managed to secure loans from Scandinavian countries and the IMF, but finally Russia refused to borrow any amount to Iceland.