FSB wants Shtokman village out of border zone
Head of the Federal Security Service in Murmansk Oblast, Mr. Vyacheslav Biryukov, in his annual press conference today said that Teriberka, the hub for the Shtokman project, is likely to be taken out of the Russian border zone. Also the border towns of Nikel and Alakurtti will become more open for travel.
Mr. Biryukov confirmed that the FSB proposes to take Nikel, Alakurtti and Teriberka out of the border zone, thus opening up for more travel and visits to the areas, newspaper Polyarnaya Pravda reports. –All necessary documents have been prepared for the change, Mr. Biryukov said to the journalists. He added however that amendments in the FSB’s proposals could be made. He did not specify when issue will be finally settled. In his presentation, the regional FSB boss also said that more than 200 individuals in the course of the year have been detained police in the border zone following border violations. Of these, 18 people, most of them from Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, were planning to illegally cross the national border to the neighbouring countries of Finland and Norway, he confirmed. Another 400 people have in the course of the period violated federal border regulations. 150 of the violations were conducted at the at the region’s border passes. In the course of the year, a total of 270,000 people have been allowed into the border control points, of which 80,000 were foreigners. 200 individuals have for various reasons been rejected entry to the zone, of which 150 were foreigners. the FSB leader said.
