Norway could quickly impose ban on Russian tourists, justice minister says

"We will close the border quickly if necessary, and changes can come at short notice," said Emilie Enger Mehl.

By Reuters September 30, 2022
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Norwegian Minister of Justice and Public Security Emilie Enger Mehl speaks to the media during an Extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium on February 27, 2022. (Johanna Geron / Reuters File Photo)

COPENHAGEN — Norway may impose a ban on Russian tourists similar to that introduced this week by Finland, Norwegian Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said on Friday.

“We will close the border quickly if necessary, and changes can come at short notice. There have been few arrivals in Norway compared to Finland, and the situation is different here,” Mehl said in a statement.

Norway would station a helicopter with sensors as it now sees an increased risk of illegal border crossings amid Russia’s first public mobilization since World War Two.

Norway, an EU outsider but a member of Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone, has kept open its Arctic border with Russia where arrivals have recently risen to number a few hundred people a day.

Reporting by Stine Jacobsen.