page_title: Norway–Russia border
section_title: Open border
hierarchical_section_title: Norway–Russia border / History / Open border
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Petsamo area in northern Finland/Soviet Union/Russia. The green area is the Finnish part of the Rybachi peninsula (Kalastajasaarento) which was ceded to the Soviet Union after the Winter War. The Red area is the Jäniskoski-Niskakoski area ceded to the Soviet Union in 1947.
context_page_description: The border between Norway and Russia consists of a 195.7-kilometer land border between Sør-Varanger, Norway, and Pechengsky District, Russia, and a 23.2-kilometer marine border in the Varangerfjord. It further consists of a border between the two countries' exclusive economic zones in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Between 1944 and 1991 the border was between Norway and the Soviet Union. There is a single border crossing, on E105, located at Storskog in Norway and Borisoglebsky in Russia. The Norwegian side is patrolled by the Garrison of Sør-Varanger and is under the jurisdiction of the Norwegian Border Commissioner, while the Russian side is patrolled by the Border Guard Service of Russia. Two-thirds of the border follows two rivers, the Pasvikelva and Jakobselva.
  The border was defined as a march in a treaty in 1326 and separated which parts of the Sami could be taxed by Norway and Russia. The border line was defined by a treaty in 1826 and essentially remains the same border today. In 1920 Petsamo was ceded to Finland and the border became part of the Finland–Norway border. Petsamo was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944 and the Norway–Soviet Union border was established.
context_section_description: From the 11th century Olaf III of Norway regarded the borders of Norway as reaching to the White Sea. The first Norwegians started moving to Finnmark in the 13th century. Vardøhus Fortress was erected by Norway in 1300 further east than today's land border, supporting Norwegian land ownership on the Varanger Peninsula. There were no permanent Norwegian settlements on the Kola Peninsula. In 1326 Norway and the Novgorod Republic signed an agreement regarding taxation of the Kola Peninsula and Finnmark. No border line was drawn, creating a marchland where both countries held the right to taxation of the Sami. Religiously motivated Russian colonization of the jointly taxed areas started in the 16th century, and Russian-Orthodox chapels were built at Neiden, Pechenga and Boris Gleb. This accelerated the need for a specific border line. In 1582 Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible declared the Kola Bay part of Russia, later specifying that Russia claimed all of Lapland. He further proposed that a new border line be drawn up. Denmark–Norway's King Frederick II responded by renewing the Norwegian claim to all land to the White Sea. His successor Christian IV traveled along the Finnmark coast in 1599 to increase the weight of the claims. As part of the Treaty of Knäred in 1613, Sweden abandoned all claims in Finnmark.
  The Dano-Norwegian government took the initiative to establish a border line in 1789. Russian authorities agreed, but because of the Russo-Turkish War no work was undertaken. New Dano-Norwegian requests were raised in 1793, 1797, and 1809, without action from their Russian counterpart. Norway joined a union with Sweden in 1814 and two years later King Carl John again tried to start negotiations, without success. In 1825, however, a common Norwegian and Russian commission was established to draw a border line, resulting in a report and a map which was approved by both countries' authorities. The treaty was signed in Saint Petersburg on 14 May 1826, and the following summer border poles were laid along the border. The thalweg principle was followed in the Jakobselva and Pasvikelva Rivers. Along the land borders the boundary markers were laid at a distance of 6 alen or 5 arshin (3.765 m or 12.35 ft). The border remains Norway's youngest unchanged border and Russia's oldest.
  The border was reviewed in 1846; a cairn was constructed at Krokfjellet, and the land border from the sea to Golmmešoaivi was cleared. The marker at the mouth of the Jakobselva was gone and had to be rebuilt, while several others had to be repaired. It was agreed that there would be a review every twenty-five years, which was formalized through a declaration the following year. Some markers were repaired in 1857, and new reviews were carried out in 1871 and 1896. In the latter year the width of the cleared area increased to 8 meters (26 ft). Maps were created for the entire border line in 1:42,000 scale, and in 1:8400 scale for the area immediately surrounding each marker. A partial review was carried out between Neiden and the Tana River in 1912. Up until the 1940s the border had been open, without border controls; farmers at Grense Jakobselv, for instance, did not need to worry about whether or not their cattle were on the correct side of the border.
  During the late 19th century customs checkpoints were established at Elvenes and Grense Jakobselv. Norwegian authorities gave permission for customs-free transit of wares along Pasvikelva. There was a limited amount of trans-border trade, and import for personal use under certain volumes was customs-free. This was accelerated by significantly lower prices in Russia compared to Norway. From 1902 to 1917 the border crossing was used to smuggle revolutionary Russian literature into Russia. The material was printed at Finnmarken's printing press in Vadsø and smuggled over the border by boat. During World War I six soldiers were stationed at Nyborgmoen in Nesseby as "neutrality guards". This was gradually increased so that by 1918 there were 93 soldiers stationed in Sør-Varanger to guard the border.
  Finland decl
caption: Petsamo was first ceded from Russia to Finland in 1920, and then reversed to the Soviet Union due to the Moscow Armistice of 1944 and the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
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