Norwegian and Russian authorities have on one instance cooperated on letting paperless immigrants from Pakistan and Sri Lanka into Norway through the Storskog border passing point outside Kirkenes, newspaper Aftenposten reports.
After the immigrants had crossed the border, Norwegian police monitored their further journey through the country. The immigration was believed to be organized and in interviews some of the asylum seekers have said that they paid large sums to get to Norway. In spite of monitoring and surveillance, the police did not manage to uncover any illegal activity, and the persons ended up as ordinary asylum seekers.
As BarentsObserver wrote, in May 2009 Russian authorities and border guards actively assisted a group of eight Afghans to get across the border. Norwegian authorities strongly reacted on what appears to be Russian authorities’ participation in the case. The papers brought by the Afghans were reportedly signed by the leader of the Russian Borisogleb border station and approved by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
