Russia closes Arctic border post in spat over return of migrants from Norway

Russia has closed an Arctic border post to stop migrants being controversially returned from Norway, officials said on Sunday. Moscow has informed its neighbour it was halting the return of migrants through the Borisoglebsk-Storskog crossing. It will block Norway’s right-wing government’s policy of sending back any migrant who had previously been living legally in Russia, which it regards as a safe country. Many of them arrived earlier in the winter after crossing at Storskog on bicycles.

The steps taken by Russia were dictated by security reasons and based on bilateral agreements with Norway

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

The spat between Russia and Norway shows how the migrant crisis is swamping even the farthest-flung corners of Europe. Norway has already sent back 13 migrants, despite protests from rights groups that they were being forced to return in winter, when temperatures in the far north regularly fall to -20C. Elsewhere, several hundred people have joined a protest in northern Greece calling on the government to grant safe passage to refugees across the land border to Turkey has ended. In Germany, the interior minister said on Sunday it was now denying entry to about 200 refugees a day at its border since tighter controls were introduced. Thomas de Maiziere said it was still accepting 2,000 others every day.

migrant crisis