The “No peeing towards Russia” sign on the road toward the town of Grense Jakobselv is considered a preventive message. The boundary line runs in the center of a creek, and at low waters the distance from the opposite river bank is only a few meters.
” No peeing towards Russia.”
A new indicator has been established at one of the most frequently visited areas along the Norwegian-Russian boundary where visitors stop to take selfies. A Russian border post is clearly visible on the opposite side of the creek.
Norway’s Border Commissioner Jens Høilund told The Barents Observer that he isn’t familiar with any type of “certain events in current times” that prompted the indicator’s look.
He stated military boundary guards are often in this area to alert site visitors prior to “such efforts turn into an incident.”
” The cops, the border guards and the border commissariat will certainly attempt to prevent incidents that could bring about offense of the arrangement with Russia, including insulting actions,” Høilund said.
He urged everyone who travels in the border locations to extensively acquaint themselves with current policies.
The boundary commissioner made it clear that incidents would certainly be reported to the police.
Situated an hour drive northeast of Kirkenes, Grense Jakobselv is a popular destination for both visitors and also citizens. The slim road on the Norwegian side of the boundary is at some locations directly on the river bank. Indicators along the roadway tell site visitors exactly how to act.
The “No peeing towards Russia” sign, nevertheless, is brand-new.
Norway’s committed regulation on the border with its eastern next-door neighbor in the north is from 1950 and also states what residents can as well as can refrain from doing in the near-border areas. In § 3, the regulation checks out that no “offensive actions along the boundary aimed at the neighboring state, or its authorities, are allowed.” Violations of this law can be penalized with fines or as much as three months in jail.
Inquired about feasible penalties for peeing, Høilund stated that it depends on police to choose.
” In such cases, the likely penalty is a fine beginning at 3,000 kroner (290 euros).”
A few years ago, border guards apprehended four individuals in the same location after they threw rocks across the Russian boundary.
Last winter, a woman who put her left hand throughout the Russian boundary was fined 8,000 kroner (772 euros). The case, captured by monitoring cameras, took place as she asserted the at Treriksrøysa in the Pasvik Valley where Norway, Russia as well as Finland meet.
Both Høilund and Finnmark authorities primary Ellen Katrine Hætta said they are not familiar with that set up the indication.
” However,” Høilund said, “it is set up in a place where tourists often quit, often the initial quit after a lengthy drive. It is most likely that some have actually succumbed to the lure to urinate in the area.”
He kept in mind that the location is under video surveillance.
Norway’s 197.7 kilometer-land boundary with Russia is most likely one of the most relaxed of Russia’s external borders. Unchanged because it was concurred in 1826, the border is also an indication of tranquility; Norway is the only neighbor that Russia has not gone to war with.