When the Norwegian and Russian border stations closed on New Year’s Eve, the counter in the passport control ended at 194.762 border-crossings for 2011. That is up near 54.000 from 2010, according to the statistics posted on the portal of the Norwegian police.
Russian cars line up at Storskog border station like never before. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
December is normally a peak month at both Russia’s borders to Norway and Finland in the north. Murmanskers drive to the border towns in the west for Christmas recess and shopping.
There are no signs of any financial crises here at the top of Europe. Shopping, cross-broder travel and vacations at the ski-resorts beats all previous records. The increase in border crossings between Russia and Norway in December is up near 7.000 compared with the same Christmas month in 2010. The majority of the travelers are Russian citizens.
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Last peak-record month at the Norwegian-Russian border was August when 18.500 border-crossings were counted.
Border authorities on both sides believe that the number of people crossing between the two countries will continue to increase in the years to come.
Read also: Consider joint border crossing facility
The two border stations, Storskog on the Norwegian side and Borisoglebsk on the Russian side is the northernmost land border between Schengen Europe and Russia.
