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Russian romances blossom in Norwegian Arctic town

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 07:11 CDT

By Alister Doyle

KIRKENES, Norway (Reuters) - In a blossoming of post-Cold War romance on the Arctic tip of Europe, one in four marriages in the Norwegian port of Kirkenes involves a Russian.

The signs of cross-border closeness are everywhere: Street signs in Kirkenes are in both Norwegian and Russian and around a dozen Russian trawlers are tied up in the port for repairs.

"We're getting back to normal," said Jarle Forbod, managing director of the Norwegian-Russian Chamber of Commerce.

The ties between Russia and Norway date back to Viking times but during the Cold War relations collapsed, changing lives in this remote area which is further east than Istanbul and where snow covers the hills in May.

A century ago, the Arctic was a hub for trade -- Russians bought fish from Norway and exported goods including furs and timber. The nearby town of Hammerfest had six foreign consulates and was the first in northern Europe to have street lights.

All that changed after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and following World War Two, NATO troops and Russia's communists shivered through the Cold War along this frontier, although no shot was ever fired in anger.

"The impression of Russia here is positive," said Rune Rafaelsen, general secretary of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat which promotes better ties in northern Europe.

Russians are popular in northern Norway partly because the Red Army drove Hitler's Nazis out at the end of World War Two -- and then withdrew.

PERSON TO PERSON

"The most successful thing is that we've established person to person contacts, and between businesses and institutions," Rafaelsen said.

Problems include how to manage a region with one of the biggest wealth gaps in the world -- Norwegian per capita incomes are among the highest at $36,680 in 2004 against just $9,680 for Russians, according to World Bank data.

"My wages are maybe 10 times more here than in Russia," said Ljudmila Kristian, a Russian doctor working at the hospital in Kirkenes. "We get a lot of Russian patients."

One in four marriages in the Kirkenes area, which has about 9,400 people, is a mixed Norwegian-Russian alliance. Most are Russian women marrying Norwegian men.

The Barents Secretariat, which groups Nordic nations and Russia, has channeled about 4 billion crowns ($660 million) to projects in northwest Russia, mainly to help dismantle aging nuclear submarines.

Hopes of deepening these links are now pinned on joint oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea, where Russia's Shtokman is one of the world's biggest offshore gas fields and could provide jobs on both sides of the border.

Rafaelsen said a former U.S. ambassador had visited the Kirkenes region seven times, seeing it as a future center for oil and gas.

"Seen from Washington, this is the center of Norway," he quoted the ambassador as saying.

TRADE SLUGGISH

Despite the closer ties, businesses on both sides still face some challenges in breaking into neighboring markets.

Operating with far higher costs, few Norwegian companies have managed to attract Russian business.

"We can't beat a Russian yard on price but we can beat them on quality and delivery time," said Greger Mannsverk, head of the Kimek shipyard in Kirkenes. The yard has months-worth of bookings for repairs to Russian trawlers.

Mannsverk said there were also differences between doing business Russian-style, with its tradition of strong leaders, and the Norwegian business ethos, with its emphasis on grassroots democracy.

"If you're on the strong side of an argument you can say, 'we'll do it like this' and the Russians will accept your decision," he said.

"Maybe in Norway we've gone too far the other way, it's more difficult to make decisions. You almost have to call a mass meeting to decide small things."

Trade with Russia still lags commerce with other Nordic nations. Exports to Russia from Norway totaled 5.3 billion crowns ($874 million) last year, mostly fish, while imports were 8.3 billion crowns, mainly metals.

Bodil Emanuelsen, 43, who runs an arts shop in Kirkenes, said that negative stories, such as prostitutes crossing the border from Russia, often grabbed local headlines.

"But it's not all negative. It's much easier to travel now -- there are many good arts festivals in Russia," she said.

Veronica Zubairova, 22, moved to Norway when she was 9 but would like to move back across the border to nearby Nikel to study.

"I feel I'm Norwegian but there's Russian in my blood," she said in fluent Norwegian at the counter of a Kirkenes kiosk.

Source: REUTERS

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