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Speeds up Borisoglebsk reconstruction

Border crossing point at Borisoglebsk.
Entry to Russia at the Borisoglebsk border checkpoint.

Murmansk governor want the building drawing for reconstruction of Russia’s border checkpoint to Norway to be ready this year.

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Rossiskaya Gazeta quotes Murmansk governor Dmitri Dmitrienko saying regional authorities are trying to expedite the process so the reconstruction can be done by 2013. The governor says the current border station might be abolished and a brand new one built at a nearby location.

Both the Norwegian border station at Storskog and the Russian one 250 meters away are packed to capacity in peak-hours by travelers. Last year the numbers of border crossings increased with 54.000 compared with 2010 to a total of 194.762. Estimates made by Norwegian police authorities say 400.000 border-crossers between the two countries can come already by 2014.

Read also: Consider joint border crossing facility  

Norway is currently rebuilding Storskog checkpoint, but also Norway plans to build a brand new border station to meet the increasing number. No funding is however yet announced for a new checkpoint on the Norwegian side. With the up-speeded process in Russia, it is likely that Russia’s new checkpoint will be operating years before the Norwegian.

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