There is not a single new application for visa-free travel in the borderlands.

It was once a show of easing travel restrictions between East and West, a separate corner of Schengen-Europe.

Russians living within 30 km of the Russia-Norway border, including the towns of Nikkele and Zapoliarny, can still obtain a local border permit, which allows them to travel to the other side of the border for 15 days visa-free, according to a 2010 agreement. The two countries.

There is a chance, but the need to renew such licenses is close to zero.

Norway closed its consulate general in Murmansk on July 1. However, applications for local border permits can still be received at the Moscow embassy.

“No new application has been submitted since office. [Murmansk] Ragnhild Håland Simenstad, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, closed on July 1.

Today’s visa-free travel permits are issued before the outbreak in March 2020. Russia lifted Covid-related restrictions on Europe on July 15.

The last time such permits were issued was in February and March, when three applications were approved, Per-Jan Brek, a spokesman for Norway’s Directorate of Immigration, wrote to the Barents Observer in an email.

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The Barents Observer sought an opinion from the Russian Consulate General in Kirkuk on how many Norwegians are applying for a similar permit to travel without a visa in the border region. The diplomats, however, blocked email inquiries and the phone number provided was disconnected.

The Moscow Times reported on Monday that Russians are scrambling at visa centers across the country amid fears that many countries will ban leisure travel in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Norwegian embassy in the Russian capital could not immediately detect an increase in visa applications if normal travel was possible a month earlier.

The latest figures from the Directorate of Immigration are from July and show that only 365 visa applications have been submitted. A big change, however, is the huge growth spurt in applications.

Typically, more than 90% of Russians’ visa applications are approved. In July, however, 32% of applicants were denied a Norwegian visa.

Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have all recently announced restrictions on tourist visas for Russians.

Apart from Norway, Finland is the only other Schengen country that has a direct border with Russia and still offers tourist visas.

The visa issue became a hot potato when Nordic prime ministers met in Oslo last week.

“It is not right that Russians can live a normal life, travel in Europe and be tourists when Russia is waging a brutal and brutal war of aggression in Europe. It is not right,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at a press conference after the meeting.

Unlike Norway, Finland will limit the number of visa application appointments in Russia to 500 per day from September 1, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement. Only 20% of all applications are reserved for tourists and 80% for non-tourist Russians.

In practice, this means that there will be an average of 100 appointments per day for people applying for tourist visas, which is 10% of the current number.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki has announced that it supports efforts to reach a common EU policy. “Finland supports the complete suspension of the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia, which will increase the visa application fee from €35 to €80,” the ministry clarified.

Ragnhild Håland Simenstad with the Foreign Ministry in Oslo said that Norway will not take initiatives like Finland to restrict visa options for Russian citizens.

“Norway is part of the Schengen cooperation. So we have an obligation to follow EU and Schengen rules,” she said.

At Norway’s Storkog checkpoint on the Russian border, the police in charge of immigration did not see the commuter traffic that Finland is now experiencing.

“There is no significant increase that we have seen. A few, now and then, head to Italy, Germany and elsewhere, but there is no increase,” said immigration officer Sven Arne Davidson.

Kirkenes Airport, a 15-minute drive from the border, has two or three direct flights a day to Oslo Gardermoen, where most major cities in Europe are connected.