Norway to intensify border controls (Russia & Sweden) due rising asylum arrivals

OSLO – 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 where as the Norway–Sweden border is a 1,630-kilometre long land national border, and the longest border for both Norway and Sweden

Norway is stepping up police monitoring of migrants on its border with Sweden following a record rise in the number of asylum seekers travelling to the Nordic countries.

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On Tuesday the right-wing Norwegian coalition government called on police authorities to tighten checks in the border areas as the country experiences an unprecedented influx of refugees. The Scandinavian nation shares a 1,630 kilometre border with Sweden.

“In a situation of increasing asylum arrivals, it is important that Norwegian authorities at as early a stage as possible can ascertain the identity and history of those coming to the country. This is partly to prevent illegal immigration and fight transnational crime,” Norway’s Justice Minister Anders Anundsen said in a press statement quoted by the NRK broadcaster.

Sweden’s western neighbour has come under increasing pressure in the past months to accept more refugees, with the 2,760 applications received over the last three months only adding up to 534 per head of population, compared to 1,467 per head received in Sweden.

But the rising number of asylum claims in Norway shot up by 81 percent between April and June this year, the third steepest increase experienced by any other European country. Sweden’s applications rose by 25 percent in the same period, according to Eurostat.

Checks stepped up on Sweden-Finland border

Norway’s decision comes less than a week after Sweden’s other neighbour, Finland, announced it too was stepping up border controlsafter an unexpected wave of mostly Iraqi asylum seekers.

It follows moves by other countries, such as Germany, Austria and Slovakia, to introduce checks after saying they could not longer cope with record influx into their territories.

But Sweden, which takes in the second-largest number of asylum seekers in the EU, has insisted it will not follow suit in the near future.

“We are not close to such a situation,” vowed Prime Minister Stefan Löfven at a joint press conference with European Parliament President Martin Schultz last week.

Norway will intensify its border controls in an effort to gain a better overview of asylum-seekers arriving in the country, the Justice Ministry said on Tuesday.

“It’s important that Norwegian authorities as quickly as possible learn the identity and background of those who arrive in the country, among other things to prevent illegal immigration and fight international crime,” it said.

Some 1,242 asylum seekers came to Norway last week, a 57 percent increase over the previous week, statistics from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration show.

EU outsider Norway, a member of Europe’s free-movement Schengen area, said the new measures did not amount to systematic controls of all arrivals and were not intended to cut off foreigners’ right to seek asylum.

Police will increase their presence in border areas at certain times. The justice ministry was not immediately able to provide further detail.