The border between Norway and Russia (, , Rossiysko-Norvezhskaya Granitsa) consists of a land border between Sør-Varanger, Norway, and Pechengsky District, Russia, and a marine border in the Varangerfjord. It further consists of a border between the two countries' exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Between 1944 and 1991 the border was between Norway and the Soviet Union. There is a single border crossing, on E105, located at Storskog in Norway and Borisoglebsky (Boris Gleb) in Russia. The Norwegian side is patrolled by the Garrison of Sør-Varanger and is under the jurisdiction of the Norwegian Border Commissioner, while the Russian side is patrolled by the Border Guard Service of Russia. Two-thirds of the border follows two rivers, the Pasvikelva and Jakobselva.
The border was defined as a march in a treaty in 1326 and separated which parts of the Sami could be taxed by Norway and Russia. The border line was defined by a treaty in 1826 and essentially remains the same border today. In 1920 Petsamo was ceded to Finland and the border became part of the Finland–Norway border. Petsamo was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944 and the Norway–Soviet Union border was established. During the Cold War, the border was one of two between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Soviet Union, the other being the Soviet Union's border with Turkey. From 1991 to 1999 it was the only border between Russia and NATO. It is Norway's youngest unchanged border. Since the 1960s there has been disagreement as to the border between the two countries' EEZs, but this was resolved by a delimitation agreement in 2010.
History
Open border
From the 11th century Olaf III of Norway regarded the borders of Norway as reaching to the White Sea. The first Norwegians started moving to Finnmark in the 13th century. Vardøhus Fortress was erected by Norway in 1300 further east than today's land border, supporting Norwegian land ownership on the Varanger Peninsula. There were no permanent Norwegian settlements on the Kola Peninsula. In 1326 Norway and the Novgorod Republic signed an agreement regarding taxation of the Kola Peninsula and Finnmark. No border line was drawn, creating a marchland where both countries held the right to taxation of the Sami. Religiously motivated Russian colonization of the jointly taxed areas started in the 16th century, and Russian-Orthodox chapels were built at Neiden, Pechenga and Boris Gleb. This accelerated the need for a specific border line. In 1582 Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible declared the Kola Bay part of Russia, later specifying that Russia claimed all of Lapland. He further proposed that a new border line be drawn up. Denmark–Norway's King Frederick II responded by renewing the Norwegian claim to all land to the White Sea. His successor Christian IV traveled along the Finnmark coast in 1599 to increase the weight of the claims. As part of the Treaty of Knäred in 1613, Sweden abandoned all claims in Finnmark.
The Dano-Norwegian government took the initiative to establish a border line in 1789. Russian authorities agreed, but because of the Russo-Turkish War no work was undertaken. New Dano-Norwegian requests were raised in 1793, 1797, and 1809, without action from their Russian counterpart. Norway joined a union with Sweden in 1814 and two years later King Carl John again tried to start negotiations, without success. In 1825, however, a common Norwegian and Russian commission was established to draw a border line, resulting in a report and a map which was approved by both countries' authorities. The treaty was signed in Saint Petersburg on 14 May 1826, and the following summer border poles were laid along the border. The thalweg principle was followed in the Jakobselva and Pasvikelva Rivers. Along the land borders the boundary markers were laid at a distance of 6 alen or 5 arshin (). The border remains Norway's youngest unchanged border and Russia's oldest.