Norway: The country in turn closes its ports to Russian ships

Norway will follow in the footsteps of the European Union, of which it is not a member, and in turn will close all its ports to Russian vessels except fishing vessels, the Norwegian government announced today.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Nordic country has supported, often with a slight delay, almost all of the sanctions imposed by the “27” on Russia.

Oslo announced today that it will implement a fifth round of sanctions decided on April 7 by the EU.

The latter also include a ban on the shipment of goods by land (with some exceptions) from Russia via Storskog, the crossing point between the two countries that share a border in the Arctic.

The ban on Russian-flagged vessels anchoring in Norwegian ports will take effect on May 7 and will not apply to fishing vessels, many of which unload their fish in Norway or Svalbard.

The Norwegian Arctic archipelago is governed by a treaty of the 1920s that allows all signatory countries, including Russia, to engage in economic activities on the basis of equality.

“Sanctions are our main means of putting pressure on the Russian regime,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Aniken Hutfeld said in a statement.

“It is crucial that we stand with the EU and other countries to continue to limit Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine,” he said.

The opposition in the center-left government accuses it of being late in adopting the new sanctions.

Norway feared that closing its ports to Russian ships would jeopardize bilateral co-operation in the fisheries sector.

Since 1976, thanks to a model agreement reached during the Cold War, Norway and Russia have been agreeing on quotas for multi-species fish in the Barents Sea, which is home to mainly a valuable stock of cod.

According to Oslo, the exemption given to fishing vessels for access to ports is in line with EU sanctions.