Finian Cunningham
The triumph of compassion and human solidarity will overcome conflict born out of malice and lies, and it will endure by inspiring others.
The political sickness of Russophobia that is currently infecting Europe encounters a powerful antidote in the following story of cooperation and fraternity between Norwegian and Russian medics. The medics came together quite by chance more than 30 years ago during the thaw of the Cold War and worked together to achieve outstanding advances in heart surgery.
Norwegian doctor Mons Lie was professor of cardiovascular surgery at Tromsø University Hospital in 1991, located in the country's far north above the Arctic Circle. Now aged 88 and living in Oslo with his wife, Ane, he recalled the historic time when he was in his early 50s.
"There was a great opening of exchange between Norway and Russia at the end of the Cold War," says Mons.
"Tromsø University Hospital was invited to hold its spring conference in 1993 in the far north Russian city of Arkhangelsk. The two cities had a common bond because of their extreme northern locations. There were also centuries of neighbourly trade and commerce between the people of our regions."
He added: "Another important bond was the memory and gratitude of the Norwegian people for the liberation by the Soviet Red Army from the Nazi regime in 1944-45. Norwegians remembered that when the Red Army liberated our territory, the Soviet soldiers would plant Norwegian flags as they advanced from the north. They did not plant Soviet flags; it was Norwegian flags, out of respect for us."
Tributes to the Soviet Red Army on Victory Day, May 9, 2026, in Oslo, photo credit Ane Hoel
In 1993, during the medical exchange conference at Arkhangelsk University Hospital, the Norwegian and Russian delegates worked together to establish what professional competencies and public health needs were priorities. This marked the beginning of a fruitful decades-long relationship between the two institutions.
The Norwegian cardio surgery team, led by Prof. Mons Lie, was invited by the Arkhangelsk hospital director and surgeon, Yelikanida Yegorovna Volosevich, to help improve operating techniques. This was at a time when the Russian economy had collapsed during the "shock therapy" of the Boris Yeltsin years, when Yeltsin opened the nation's doors to Western capitalist carpetbaggers who ransacked Russian industries. The remote location, too, over 1,200 kilometers from Moscow, meant that health services in Arkhangelsk had fallen into an appalling condition of disrepair and neglect.
What followed, however, was a remarkable story of cross-border solidarity and medical fraternity. The Norwegian medics from Tromsø established programs for training young Russian surgeons, imparting their latest techniques in heart bypass and valve surgery. The Norwegian side also donated modern equipment to upgrade the facilities in Arkhangelsk. At that time, the government in Oslo also contributed financial assistance to the medical exchange program between the two northern communities.
Not forgotten: Norway remembers the sacrifice of Soviet liberators from Nazism at a war memorial in Oslo, May 9, 2026
Within a few years, the medics in Arkhangelsk were carrying out some of the most intricate heart procedures thanks to the training and equipment supplied by Mons Lie and his team. In 1997, Mons was made an honorary doctor of Northern Medical University, Arkhangelsk, a position he proudly still holds.
Some of his Russian students who went on to become top-class surgeons include Aleksey Shonbin and Igor Chernov.
When the Russian Federation got back on its feet in the years after 2000, with Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev taking over from Yeltsin, successive Moscow governments have given high priority to setting up regional networks of advanced medical technologies. In 2007, the Russian city of Penza, over 600 kms southeast of the capital, became the first hospital to pioneer cardiovascular surgery. Penza has become a national leader in Aortic surgery and minimally invasive techniques, performing procedures on over 6,000 patients every year. In setting up the state-of-the-art hospital in Penza, the Kremlin tapped graduates from Arkhangelsk who had been trained by Mons Lie and his Norwegian team.
Sadly, the medical fraternity between Norway and Russia has suffered since the conflict in Ukraine erupted in early 2022. Mons says that colleagues in Tromsø and Arkhangelsk remain close friends and still keep in touch to share scientific advances.
Cardiac surgeon Mons Lie, Oslo, May 6, 2026
But since 2022, the government of Norway, like the rest of the European Union, has closed air transport to Russia, among other unilateral sanctions against the country. It is still possible to cross the northern border between Kirkenes and Murmansk by road, but the travel restrictions make the journey more arduous, especially during the extreme mid-winter in the Polar region.
In his accomplished life, Prof Mons Lie has become an internationally renowned surgeon. He has innovated and participated in medical programs in Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Namibia, and Nepal, among other countries, in which he has imparted his knowledge and skills to develop health services in marginalized communities. His dedication to humanity is shared by his loving wife, Ane Hoel, who is director of the Cuban Friendship Society in Norway. Mons recounted his life experiences in a book published in 2023, entitled Min Medisinske Vandring (My Medical Journey).
Book cover of My Medical Journey by Mons Lie
Despite the setbacks from international politics and the current Russophobia infecting European governments, Mons Lie says he always retains a fervent hope that people-to-people solidarity will overcome contrived agendas of hostility.
By way of substantiating his beliefs, he points to the depth of historical memory that endures despite false propaganda and toxic politics. When the border between Norway and Russia opened in 1991, he recalled that the Norwegian people remembered the sacrifices of thousands of Red Army soldiers who gave their lives to liberate their country from Nazi tyranny and a quisling regime in Oslo. At the most recent Victory Day celebrations on May 9 in 2026, Norwegians laid flowers and paid tribute to the Soviet heroes at a memorial in Oslo. Among those attending the ceremony were Mons and Ane.
The achievements in medical exchange by Mons Lie and his Norwegian and Russian colleagues are also monumental. Their triumph of compassion and human solidarity will overcome conflict born out of malice and lies, and it will endure by inspiring others.