Norway's border with Russia at the far northern tip of the country has been relatively peaceful, but suddenly some mysterious signs have appeared on the Russian side, warning that the area contains land mines.
"We don't understand this," Ã…se Dons Lindrupsen of the local border commission in Kirkenes told newspaper Aftenposten. The mines, she said, "have never been mentioned in any of the roughly 60 meetings we have every year with the Russian border patrol."
Nor was there any mention of mines when an expansion of the border zone was taken up with the border patrol chief Aleksandr Belokon on August 30, Lindtupsen said.
Yet just two months after Russia expanded its "special border zone" to 25 kilometers, some little red signs have been placed on the Russian side of the border fence. Their message is indisputable: "Mines."
Russian officials have told their Norwegian counterparts that some unexploded mines may still lie in the area from the battles fought in 1944, when German troops were forced out of the Kola Peninsula and eastern Finnmark.
But the signs are new. The Russian Embassy in Oslo said it couldn't comment on them. The Norwegian consulate in Murmansk said it has no information that the Russian border to Norway has been rigged with mines.
The Russian border chief Belokon has earlier said the border zone was expanded in an effort to fight terrorism, border crimes and illegal immigration.
Mysterious Warnings Pop Up Along Russian Border
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