The number of Russians crossing the border to Norway is up 35 percent in August compared to the same period last year.
Late last year, the Norwegian Consulate General in Murmansk stared to issues so-called Pomor-visas for the inhabitants in Murmansk Oblast. Ordinary people can obtain such multi-entry visa to Norway without presenting an invitation from a Norwegian partner, as earlier required.
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In figures, 13,533 people crossed the border in August. Never before has so many people crossed the border over a one-month period.
The busiest time is Saturday morning when the queue of cars can stretch back hundreds of meters. The Norwegian border station at Storskog is far from dimensioned to handle such peak traffic.
- It can be more than 800 border crossers on Saturdays, compared with some 400 in average on other days, says Bjørn Tharaldsen at the Storskog border station. And the trend continues upwards according to Tharaldsen.
But, despite the time-consuming queue at the border, the Russian visitors are curious about their small neighboring town in the west.
– Best weekend in Kirkenes, it was really great, says Anna from Murmansk. She decided to visit Norway together with her husband in their new 4WD car. The young couple from Murmansk is not mainly looking for good offers in the shops.
- We wanted to do something different, see another northern country. The shopping is just a bonus, says Anna.
In addition to private cars, more and more micro-busses from Murmansk are filling the parking spots in Kirkenes. Russian language is normal to hear in the streets and many of the shops and malls have Russian speaking employees.
Read also: People are ready for visa-free travel
Kirkenes is a 20 minute drive from the border to Russia and is now experiencing the same rush of visitors as the Finnish border towns across the border from St. Petersburg have seen over the last years. Finland was the first country to issue multi-entry visas to Russians without requiring a specific invitation.
The road from Murmansk to the Norwegian border has been substantially upgraded over the last years with new asphalt. Today, it is a 3 ½ hour drive from Murmansk to the border.
In connection with last week’s top-meeting between Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Russia’s President Dmitri Medvedev in Murmansk, a Kremlin source said the border station to Norway will get an upgraded status, and by that expanded opening hours. Today, the border doesn’t open for traffic before 9 am Russian time.
Read also: Easier border crossing is a priority
It is also expected that the border traffic will get yet another boost when Norway and Russia soon signs the agreement on visa-free travel for inhabitants living within a 25 kilometers zone on each side of the border.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will most likely sign the visa-free border deal when visiting Oslo on November 2nd. The deal will open up for people living in Kirkenes, Nikel and Zapolyarny to cross the border and stay within the zone with just showing a border zone ID-card when passing the control posts.
Last year, a working group on the Norwegian side presented a report outlining ways to expand the border station at Storskog to meet the increase in traffic.
It is expected that the Norwegian government will provide the needed funding to expand the border station in next year’s state budget. The budget will be presented in October.
External link: Read more about the Norwegian-Russian border in the Barents Review chapter Border Crossing Exercises, published by the Norwgian Barents Secretariat.
