Languages

Record number of asylum seekers through Norwegian-Russian border

Storskog is the only border-crossing point between Norway and Russia.

So far this year 58 asylum seekers have crossed the border from Russian into Norway. 55 of them came from Syria.

Location

The civil war in Syria has led to one of the largest refugee crises the world has seen. According to UNHCR nearly a third of the population has either fled the country or been internally displaced.

The massive Syrian outflows are also noticed at the quiet border between Russia and Norway, where the number of asylum seekers are about to reach a record level. In course of the first half of 2015, 58 people have asked for asylum – 50 more than in the whole of 2014, NRK reports.

“About a decade ago we had a peak of some 50 asylum seekers here, now we have had the same number in just half a year,” Chief Inspector Hans Møllerbakken says to NRK. He explains that the refugees travel by plane to Moscow, continue to Murmansk and then travel by bus to Nikel and finally by car to the border.

 The Norwegian Parliament in June decided that Norway would accept 8000 Syrian refugees over the next three years.