Norwegian-Russian police cooperation
Police districts on both sides of the Norwegian-Russian border will enhance cooperation. The first agreement on cooperation between the Eastern Finnmark Police District and the Murmansk Department of the Interior (UVD) was signed on Tuesday.
- This plan is the foundation stone for a prospective cooperation between our two police districts, Chief of Police in Eastern Finnmark, Håkon Skulstad, says in a press release. The aim is to establish concrete, efficient and operative police cooperation in order to strengthen our common fight against transboundary crime.
Drafting of the agreement was initiated by the Norwegian side earlier this year. It is based on international agreement and conventions on fight against crime which both Norway and Russia have signed.
Enhanced knowledge about each other’s law enforcing systems and exchange of forensic experts are amongst the key points in the agreement.
Mr. Skulstad believes the expected increase in traffic across the Norwegian-Russian border will create new challenges for the police, especially when the border zone area is established. A well-functioning police cooperation will be an important preventive measure in securing the success of such a positive people-to-people initiative, Skulstad underlined in his speech in connection with the signing of the agreement.
As BarentsObserver reported, a Norwegian-Russian agreement on visa-free travel for the two countries’ border zone inhabitants could be ready by the end of 2009. The new order will probably not be put into life before a new border-crossing and customs station is built in 2013/2014.
