Politicians want visa-freedom with Russia
A regional branch of the Socialist Left Party in northern Norway demands that Norway unilaterally abolishes todays visa regulations with Russia.
In its recent annual party assembly, the Socialist Left party in the northern county of Troms stated that the current visa regulations hamper cross-border cooperation between Norway and Russia and that Norway therefore should unilaterally abolish the rules.
The move will be the first step towards opening up for free travel both for Russians to Norway and for Norwegians to Russia, the regional politicians said, newspaper Nordlys reports.
It remains however a question how the socialists intend to cope with the Schengen agreement, which commits Norway to meet EU visa regulations.
Both Russia and the EU has said that their long-term objective is to introduce visa-free travel. According to the new EU-Russia visa agreement, ratified by both parts last year, travel conditions are being made easier for a number of groups.
The new Norway-Russia visa agreement, which is more or less a copy of the EU-Russia agreement, remains to be ratified by the Russian parliament.
