KIRKKONII Northern Norway Kirkkoniemi is a settlement of three thousand inhabitants on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. Life in Kirkkoniemi has changed decisively since Russia attacked Ukraine more than a year ago.
In Kirkkoniemi, Arctic cooperation with Russia had previously been taken further than anywhere else. Permanent residents on both sides of the border could move as long as there was a stamp of a travel permit in the passport. People went shopping and working on both sides of the border and trade flourished. Russians moved in so that a tenth of the residents of the area were Russians.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine silenced the border and trade and brought Ukrainian refugees. You have to talk about the war carefully, because your circle of friends can include both Russians who support Putin and Ukrainians who have fled the horrors of war.
A cooperation meeting of the arctic region, the Kirkkoniemi Conference, has been organized in Kirkkoniemi for twenty years. This year, the event focused on security policy.
Norway still cooperates with Russia
Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt the message to the people of Kirkenes was: don’t boycott ordinary Russians, because they are not to blame president Vladimir Putin to war. The background of the minister’s message could also have been a desire to reassure that the tensions between the residents would not erupt into open hatred.
The foreign minister also defended the cooperation on a practical level, which Norway continues with Russia, even though the political leadership condemns the Russian attack.
In Kirkkoniemi, Huitfeldt repeated the reasoning that fishing cooperation with Russia will be continued.
Russian fishing vessels are allowed to use three Norwegian ports, one of which is Kirkkoniemi. Cooperation is carried out because ending it would destroy the area’s cod stock. The Norwegians fear that if the ports were closed, the Russians would fish undersized cod in their own waters and the stock would collapse. In EU circles, the arrangement has been surprised, but Norway is not an EU country.
– We cooperate in fishing, as well as in sea rescue. We have to be able to cooperate in case of an accident here. We also cooperate in case of nuclear accidents.
– Cooperation is necessary and I think other countries understand this very well in relation to Norway and Russia. But mainly we act like all other EU and NATO countries, Huitfeldt said on Thursday in Kirkkoniemi.
Hot line between armies
It is less than ten kilometers from Kirkoniemi agglomeration to the Storskog border crossing. It leads the defense alliance to the border of NATO and Russia.
On the Russian side of the border near Murmansk is the home port of the Russian military’s nuclear submarines. Its number of nuclear weapons is among the largest in the world.
After Russia attacked Ukraine, Norway has begun to strengthen its military presence near the border. Tensions have increased, traffic at the border has decreased.
Commander of the Norwegian Defense Forces Eirik Kristoffersen is clearly excited about Finland and Sweden joining NATO. He sees in his eyes one, united, northern NATO region, which can be responsible for controlling either the Arctic Ocean or the Baltic, or both.
The connections between the armies are not completely severed either. The commander says that the hot line between Norway and Russia is tested once a week. Thus, you can be sure that the connection will work if needed. The need could apparently be, for example, an accident at a submarine base.
Courtship invitations from Norwegian companies to Finnish Lapland
In addition to the Kirkoniemi convention, a financial seminar was organized, among other things, whose main guests were from Finnish Lapland.
Chairman of the Inari Municipal Board Jari Huotari calculates that this year’s seminar is perhaps his sixth. For him, the atmosphere is decidedly different from before.
– The spirit is completely different. To put it mildly, until now we have been present here, but now we are a very welcome guest.
The message of entrepreneurs in Kirkkoniemi is clear. Cooperation with Russia will certainly be in a slump for years, if not even decades, and now new partners are being sought in Finnish Lapland. The neighboring municipality of Inari feels like a natural partner, and Northern Finland’s tourism achievements are spoken of with admiration.
Kirkniemi harbor director Terje Jørgensen outlines the cooperation already far ahead. The port of Kirkkoniemi can very well be made a “Finnish port” and the area a home market.
Huotari is especially happy that the initiative for cooperation now comes from the Norwegians. In his opinion, big seminars often don’t solve things, but many company-level meetings have already been arranged, which is a good sign for him.
– Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership has clearly increased that discussion base. Now there is one more such common element in the background, the security element.