11 percent decline in border traffic YoY
Excluding the years of the pandemic, the Norwegian-Russian border has not seen lower numbers since before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
There were 51,534 crossings between the two countries in 2025, down 11% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis from 57,986 in 2024, according to statistics given to the Barents Observer by Norwegian police in charge of immigration.
Traffic in 1991 was 16,000. In 1992, the first year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, traffic reached 83,000. In 1993, Norway opened a consulate general in Murmansk and the numbers of visas issued grew steadily in the following years.
At the peak in 2013, more than 320,000 border crossings took place on the road connecting Norway and Russia’s Kola Peninsula.
Then came Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, with a following sharp fall in the exchange rate for the Russian ruble. That caused a decline in traffic, as a large portion of the traffic at the time was Russians driving to the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes for shopping.
The most dramatic fall in traffic, however, came after Putin launched the full-scale war against Ukraine; few Russians get visas to Norway and Schengen, cross-border shopping has come to an end, Russian cars are no longer allowed into Norway, and very few Norwegians travel to Russia.
In short, the majority of those still crossing the border are people with dual citizenship and Russians visiting relatives in Norway or in transit to relatives living in other Schengen countries. Also, Russian seamen embarking or disembarking fishing vessels at ports in northern Norway are shuttled in- and out from Murmansk via the Storskog checkpoint.
Although the year-over-year traffic for 2025 is down, the month-over-month (MoM) figures for December show a boost in traffic by 29% compared with December 2024.
