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Norway building fence on border with Russia to deter refugees 26.8.16

Norway building fence on border with Russia to deter refugees 26.8.16

Norway has begun building a steel fence on its border with Russia due to the growing number of refugees arriving in the past year. The deision to build the wall has provoked protests by refugee rights groups and has revived fears that relations with its former Cold War rival are deteriorating.

The wall, 200 metres long and 3.5 metres high, has been installed along the length of the frontier in Storskog. The government has defended its decision, citing the need to increase security.

In the past year some 5,500 people have crossed the Russian-Norway border, the majority of them from Syria.

The construction of the wall will be done in the coming weeks, before the winter ice sets in. "The gate and the wall are responsible measures," the vice-minister of justice, Ove Vanebo, has said.

The mayor of the Soer-Varanger region, which runs along Norway's border with Russia, has said that he does not see the need for a fence, and that "there are already too many fences in Europe."

Source

Noruega levanta una valla en su frontera con Rusia para disuadir a los refugiados, Europa Press, 24 August 2016