Norway announced on Thursday the upcoming closure of its border to Russian tourists, depriving them of the last direct access point into the Schengen area.
The Scandinavian country, which shares a 198 km land border with Russia in the Arctic, is following in the footsteps of the European Union (of which it is not a member) which had taken a similar measure in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The decision to tighten entry rules is in line with Norway’s approach of standing with its allies and partners in response to Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” the minister said. of Justice, Emilie Enger Mehl, in a press release.
Norway, a NATO member, has almost stopped granting tourist visas to Russian citizens since spring 2022. Only holders of a long-term visa issued before this date or granted by another country in the Schengen area could cross the Storskog-Boris Gleb border post, the only land crossing point between the two countries.
According to local police, 5,102 people with tourist visas have crossed this border crossing from Russia since the start of the year. They will now be prohibited from entering the Scandinavian kingdom from May 29.
Some exceptions are planned, the ministry said, notably for Russian citizens visiting close family residing in Norway and those working or studying in the country or other Schengen area states.
Contacted by AFP, the Russian embassy in Oslo has not yet commented on this decision. Russia is considered by Norwegian counter-espionage services as the main intelligence threat to the Nordic kingdom.
In April 2023, Oslo expelled 15 Russian embassy employees suspected of espionage. “We expect that Russia will try to compensate for the loss of intelligence officers and it could do this for example by sending nomadic agents,” the head of the Norwegian domestic intelligence service (PST) said last week, Beate Gangås, to the foreign press.
Although it is not a member of the EU, Norway is closely associated with it and has adopted almost all of the sanctions taken by Brussels against Russia.
