Three days processing of visa-applications is history. “Always apply at least 15 days prior to scheduled departure. Our processing time is 10 days,” says Marit Egholm Jacobsen, head of the visa section at Norway’s Consulate General in Murmansk.
The Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence says the construction of a brand new and modern border checkpoint to Russia must start in 2013 to meet the booming traffic.
IVALO: Passengers from Murmansk find it attractive to cross the border to Finland and Norway when flying to European destinations. Border crossings between Russia and Lapland have increased with 41 percent so far this year.
The cross-border cooperation between Norway and Russia has had huge impact on local business in the border towns of Nikel and Kirkenes, especially since the introduction of visa-free border crossings.
PASVIK VALLEY: Norwegian Minister of Defence Ine Eriksen Søreide opens a brand new € 17 million border station, as Norway’s military cooperation with the Russian neighbour is put on hold.
The number of visas issued by the Finnish Consulate General in St.Petersburg has dropped to the same level as in 2011. Only in the first half of December the demand for visas fell 40 percent.
Even though most diplomatic contacts are on freezing level between Norway and Russia, there are no changes for the annual Norwegian-Russian search and rescue exercises in the Barents Sea.
Finland’s Interior Minister announces measures to step up controls on the country’s Lapland border to Sweden and set up refugee reception centers in the region.
Of the 22 worldwide seabed claims submitted to the U.N. commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the most serious potential for disputes is in the Arctic, writes The New York Times. Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia all have competing claims.
