Norway to Build Steel Fence on Arctic Border to Deter Refugees

Norway is building a steel fence at a remote Arctic border post with Russia to deter an influx of migrants over the past year that has sparked an outcry from refugees' rights groups and fears of reigniting cross-border tensions with a former Cold War adversary.

The government says a new gate and a fence–about 660 feet long and 3.5 meters high stretching from the Storskog border point–is needed to tighten security at a northern outpost of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.

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For decades, the Nordics have enjoyed the image of being a reliable haven for asylum seekers.

But the construction of the fence, at a spot where 5,500 migrants mainly from Syria crossed into Norway last year, reflects a wider shift in public attitudes against refugees.

This is seen too in Sweden, Norway's neighbor, which was once touted as a "humanitarian superpower", but is setting up border controls this year and has toughened asylum rules.

Refugee groups and some opposition politicians say Norway's fence will deter people fleeing persecution and is an unwelcome echo of the Cold War in a region where relations have generally flourished since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

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The fence will be erected in the coming weeks, before winter frosts set in, to make it harder to slip into Norway via a forest. Workers have so far done some preparatory work, clearing away old wooden barriers put up to control reindeer herds.

"The gate and the fence are responsible measures," Deputy Justice Minister Ove Vanebo told Reuters, defending the move.

So far this year, no one has sought asylum via the northern frontier, according to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration.

"I can't see a need for a fence. There are too many fences going up in Europe today," said Rune Rafaelsen, the mayor of the Soer-Varanger region which includes the border, told Reuters, pointing to barbed wire in nations such as Hungary.

"We've an obligation to be a country people can flee to," said Linn Landro, of the Refugees Welcome group in Norway. "The fence sends a very negative signal, including to Russia because it says that 'we don't trust you'."

Norwegians and Russians in the region can visit one another visa-free for short trips. About 250,000 people crossed the border last year, a decline from recent years but a large number in comparison with just 5,000 a year in the Cold War.