page_title: Norway–Russia border
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: Norway–Russia border / History / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: Elvenes, Sør-Varanger, Norway
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: During the Soviet era the border was guarded by Soviet border troops. The border was one of the two land borders between NATO and the Soviet Union, the other being the Soviet Union–Turkey border. This ensured that Russia–Norway border relations were a relevant matter for other NATO allies. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was considered Norway's main enemy and Norway maintained a large military presence on the border. Norwegian government plans for the defense of Finnmark against the Soviet Union during the Cold War were based on using scorched earth tactics in the event of the Soviets crossing the border. The whole county of Finnmark was regarded by NATO as a buffer zone. Norwegian military leaders regarded the population in the county as potentially unreliable, and did not trust that they would be willing to defend their country against intruders, on account of the county's special ethnic and political composition, specifically Sami people and a higher number of communist sympathizers than elsewhere.
  On the Norwegian side the border was from 1948 to 1950 patrolled by the National Mobile Police Service. From 1950 the responsibility was transferred to Sør-Varanger Police District, who received 25 officers from around the country. From 15 July 1955 the responsibility was taken over by the Norwegian Border Commission, who had nine outpost sergeants and 42 officers. This was terminated on 29 December 1958, when the responsibility was transferred to the Norwegian Army, who created the Garrison of Sør-Varanger.
  Initially all meetings between the Norwegian and Soviet commissioners and their staff was held at the Storskog–Boris Gleb crossing. The Soviets quickly bought a small cabin to host meetings. If the meeting was initiated by the Soviets, it was held in the premises, while it was held outdoors if initiated by the Norwegians, unless circumstances dictated that it had to be held indoors. This caused the Norwegian authorities to build a conference room on their side of the border, which opened in 1956. Initially meetings between the two commissioners would be called by hoisting a flag or red lamp at the border, and the other country's soldiers would alert the commissioner, who would meet within two hours. Later a telephone connection was installed and the parties agreed on two hours each week day that they were to be available along with an interpreter. Initially the Soviet commissioner was based in Salmijärvi, but later moved to Nikel.
  The area on both sides of the river saw an increased industrialization, especially Sydvaranger in Norway and Pechenganikel (now, part of MMC Norilsk Nickel) in Russia. This raised the question of utilizing Pasvikelven for hydroelectricity. An agreement was signed in 1957 which would result in the construction of four power stations, the Paatsjoki River Hydroelectric Plants, of which two were owned by each of the countries. All four were built by Norwegian contractors and as the sites were all built on both sides of the border, they required increased flexibility of border crossing procedures. This was further complicated by the workers not having a sense of the border being closed and frequent, innocent transgressions of the border protocols. The power plants opened between 1963 and 1978. Up until the power plants opened the river had been used for log driving from Finland to the sawmill at Elvenes, which was permitted according to the border treaty.
  There have been a limited number of illegal crossings of the border. For instance an American in 1947 and a West German in 1964 both received a few weeks in detention and smaller fines. During the summer of 1965 a trial was made whereby Norwegians could visit Boris Gleb without a visa. This was organized by the creation of a separate border checkpoint at Skafferhullet. Although this was intended only for the local population, the 27-year-old American tourist Newcomb Mott chose to cross the border illegally and when he arrived at the border control, he was apprehended. He was tried and sentenced to one and a half years in a labor camp, but wa
caption: Looking upstream from Elvenes; the bridge and community is in Norway while the river further up is in Russia
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