With this, Norway becomes the last bordering EU country that chooses to veto the entry of Russian tourists. The reason? The call for 300,000 reservists for the invasion of Ukraine, an unpopular measure that has caused a large outflow of people seeking to avoid entering the conflict.
The government of Norway announced this Friday that will strengthen surveillance on its border with Russia.
At the same time, the administration warned that could quickly enforce a full lockdown for Russian touristsas reported by Finland yesterday, if necessary.
Oslo considers that the partial military mobilization decreed by Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine and the creation of a possible exit network for Russian citizens increases the risk of illegal crossing to Norway outside the Storskog border crossing, which is why it has decided to send a helicopter equipped with sensors to patrol the area .
“We will close the border immediately if necessary, changes can occur at short notice,” Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said in a statement.
Mehl stressed, however, that the situation in Norway is different from that in Finland and that, compared to the neighboring country, there have been few arrivals of Russian citizens in recent days.
According to data from the Finnish Border Guard, 55,362 Russians have entered that country since the President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of 300 thousand reservists to fight in the Ukraine nine days ago.
Figures of crossings from Russia to Norway
In Norway, which already restricted visas to Russian tourists in May and has 198 kilometers of border with Russia compared to 1,340 in Finland, 162 people crossed the Storskog pass yesterday, and the daily average this week barely exceeds 200.
The Finnish government yesterday approved the “complete closure” of its borders to Russian touristseven if they have a visa issued in a country in the Schengen area, alleging that their arrival could cause “serious damage to the international position of Finland”.
The measure, announced a week ago, will come into force this midnight and aims to significantly restrict the flow of Russian citizens entering the Nordic country, many of whom continue their journey to other destinations in the European Union (EU).
Finland thus becomes the last bordering EU country that chooses to veto the entry of Russian tourists, after the three Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Poland did the same two weeks ago.