Building cross-border confidence
Leader of the FSB border guards in Murmansk last week welcomed Vice Commander of Norway’s National Joint Headquarter. Over the last years, the two leaders have met regularly in a bid to strenghten trust and confidence.
Mr. Vyacheslav Biryukov on September 1 welcomed Norway’s Trond Grytting in Murmansk for one of their annual meetings. The two men have over the last years strengthened formal and informal contacts and now meet three times every year.
This time, Mr. Grytting arrived in Murmansk along with Norway’s newest coast guard vessel, the “KV Barentshav”.
The meeting took place just days before this week’s international Barents Rescue training.
Moving north
The meeting was the first since Norway this August moved its National Joint Headquarter to Bodø, near the Arctic Circle. That moving in many ways symbolizes Norway’s increasing focus on the High North, an area of top domestic and international priority for the country.
Mr. Biryukov and Mr. Grytting, both leaders of border and coast guard affairs, in the Murmansk meeting especially discussed fishery inspections in the Barents Sea and the establishment of a joint web-based communication mechanism for the two countries’ coast guards, a press release from the Norwegian side informs.
-Regular meetings like these and good contacts between officers are very important for the support of joint interests within the field of control and security, but also in order to prevent misunderstandings and conflict in difficult situations, Mr. Grytting said after the meeting
Barents Rescue
The meeting came just days ahead of this year’s Barents Rescue training, the bi-annual rescue and emergency training held by Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden within the frames of the Barents Cooperation. This year’s training, which starts this week in Murmansk Oblast will include five scenarios – joint action in forest fires, an oil catastrophe, a car crash, seeking and rescue and a situation with radiation spills.
In a meeting with the Norwegian Barents Secretariat earlier this year, Mr. Grytting said he was impressed by the preparations made by the Russians side ahead of the Barents Rescue training. He also highlighted the importance of both the Northern Fleet and the FSB participating in the training.
From the Norwegian side, the frigate “Otto Sverdrup” will moor in the Northern Fleet headquarters of Severomorsk ahead of the training. That will be the first visit to Russia by one of Norway’s brand new frigates, a fleet of vessels designed to strengthen Norwegian presence in Arctic waters.
