20 percent decline in border traffic YoY
Traffic across the Norwegian-Russian border was lower in 2024 than in 1992, the first year after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
There were 57,986 crossings at Storskog in 2024, down 20% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis from the 72,173 in 2023, statistics from Norwegian police in charge of immigration show.
Excluding the years with pandemic, the Norwegian-Russian border has not seen lower numbers since the early 1990s. In 1992, more than 80,000 crossings were counted.
At its peak in 2013, more than 320,000 border crossings took place on the road connecting Norway and Russia’s Kola Peninsula.
The dramatic fall in traffic is due to the comeback of an iron curtain like border regime; few Russians get visa to Norway and Schengen, cross-border shopping has come to an end, Russian cars are no longer allowed into Norway, and very few Norwegians travel to Russia.
In short, the majority of those still crossing the border are people with dual citizenship and Russians visiting relatives in Norway or in transit to relatives living in other Schengen countries. Also, Russian seamen embarking or disembarking fishing vessels at ports in northern Norway are shuttled in- and out from Murmansk via Storskog checkpoint.
The month-over-month (MoM) figures for December show a decline of 14 percent from December 2023.
Christmas traffic this year was up 47 percent compared with November. A reason for higher traffic in December includes Russians living in Finland who drive north via Norway’s checkpoint, as all road checkpoints along the Finnish-Russian border is closed.
For people with dual-citizenship Finland and Russia, driving via the Estonian-Russian checkpoint is a challenge for those bringing their own car. Crossers have to pre-book a time-slot, otherwise risk days in queue.
