Borders
A three-year road repair and safety upgrade is getting underway with funding from EU’s Kolarctic program.
More than €11 million will be invested in brand new infrastructure facilities at the northernmost checkpoint between the countries.
Regional leaders are on a crash course with national and international legislation as they call for the abolishment of the current visa regimes in the Barents region.
Eyes on Barents
The human rights expert Alexey Tsykarev from Russia has been refused a visa to Finland. The refusal was based on the Schengen agreement’s paragraph on diseases that concern public health.
10 years of comprehensive field work, measurements and formal diplomatic talks are completed as the new border agreement was signed in Moscow on Wednesday.
We see this as a serious incident, says the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
And the Norwegians should pay for it, says Deputy Governor Yevgeny Nikora.
Fleeing from conflict zones and poverty, but the dream about reaching Norway ends in Russian jail.
One Norwegian krone was traded at 8,1 rubles Tuesday morning. Cross-border traffic between Murmansk and Kirkenes is now at its lowest since 2012.
Pressure on the northern Schengen-border intensifies as several groups of migrants are detained in Russian Arctic borderlands.
One of the persons arrested for illegal attempt to cross the border to Norway is a minor.
The wildfire crossed the border on the night between Friday and Saturday at Raja-Jooseppi in Inari.
Siste/ mest lest
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Lowest April traffic from Kola Peninsula to Norway since before the Crimea crisis.
Longread
Life of the Center for Neighbor Assistance on the border of Russia and Finland
While the Finnish Border Guard has launched serious investigation, other Finns make social media jokes suggesting unconditionally surrender to get access to Norway’s oil money and know-how on asthma medication.
Just a week after two Syrians were detained on the border to Norway, Russian border guards stopped two more.
Norway: Too early to say if this can be done at Storskog checkpoint to Russia.
Norway’s Consul in Murmansk, Jørgen Holten Jørgensen, and three others on a tourist voyage along the coast of the Kola Peninsula literally sailed into trouble.
Two Syrians got through the barbed wire fence on Friday, but where detained after 200 meters running in the snow.
For the seventh time in less than a year, migrants have illegally tried to make it to Norway from the Kola Peninsula.
21,880 crossings at the Russian-Norwegian border, up 6% compared with January last year.
The three Afghans who illegally tried to cross the Arctic border between Russia and Norway have been sentenced to six months behind bars.
Boost in traffic at Finland’s northernmost checkpoint to the Kola Peninsula.
But the number of border crossings is still 17% lower than the peak year of 2013.
Application processing time for foreigners entering Russia’s border zone will be reduced to «only» one month in advance.
Finnish Customs officials and border guards are investigating an unusual case in which a drone was found in a forested area of the eastern town of Lappeenranta with a cargo of 15 cartons of cigarettes. Two similar packages were found nearby, bringing the total to 45 cartons.
The blue-lighted tunnel and bridge opened a month ago should give a boost to easier traffic between Norway and Russia.
Fingerprint checks for visitors from outside Schengen will be obligatory, but Norway is still undecided about possible e-Gates at Storskog checkpoint to Russia.
Cross-border traffic between Norway and Russia increases, but the checkpoint will still remain a bottleneck.
Four citizens of Morocco were arrested behind Russia’s barbed wire fence on border to Norway.
Three young men and two women cut through Russia’s barbed wire fence, but were detained by FSB before reaching Norway.
Top Norwegian transport officials argue that the Storskog-Borisoglebsk border-crossing points should be open round-the-clock.
“This is a bridge for mutual benefit for businesses in both Norway and Russia,” says Minister of Transport and Communication Ketil Solvik-Olsen.
“The bridge sign should be bilingual in the great good spirit between our two countries,” says Jan-Henrik Fredriksen, representing Finnmark in the Norwegian Parliament over the last 12-years.
"We are very aware of the situation," says Norwegian Minister of Transport. "It is on our agenda," officials from Moscow underline.