The third Arctic Security Conference took place in Oslo on 16 September 2026, hosted by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. This year’s focus was maritime security and hybrid threats at sea.

Across five sessions, policymakers, military leaders, researchers and maritime experts discussed Russian activity near critical infrastructure, a changing Arctic Ocean, threats below the threshold of war, Nordic and transatlantic cooperation, and lessons from Ukraine.

PROGRAMME

00:00 Opening film
26:27 Welcome: Iselin Nemeth Winther and Andreas Østhagen
30:20 I. Political Leadership in Turbulent Waters – Sailing Where?
1:37:04 II. An Ice-Free Arctic Ocean in 2050 – So What?
3:34:27 III. Hybrid Threats at Sea – Do the Rules Still Apply?
4:29:55 IV. Transatlantic and Nordic Partnerships – What Now?
6:04:25 V. Dealing with Maritime Security Threats in the Arctic – How?

Full programme: https://www.arcticsecuritynet.com/asc26
Read FNIs conference report: https://www.fni.no/news/arctic-security-is-moving-to-sea

The conference was organised by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute within the framework of the Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics, with support from partners, research projects and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.

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Arctic Security Conference 2026
Maritime Security and Hybrid Threats at Sea
Wednesday, 16 September 2026
The Hub, Oslo, Norway


0:00 The opening Arctic
26:04 Conference opening
30:31 Political leadership
49:22 Security challenges
59:40 National perspectives
1:20:54 EU and the Arctic
1:37:45 Research perspectives
1:42:00 Maritime security threats
2:04:34 The transatlantic bond
2:27:15 Regional governance
2:56:05 Geopolitics of infrastructure
3:31:52 Hybrid threat case studies
3:42:39 Addressing hybrid threats
4:23:54 Transatlantic and Nordic policy
5:07:17 Future perspectives
5:40:36 Military and security outlook
6:17:05 Lessons from Ukraine
7:14:31 Conclusion and wrap-up