Norway tells 5,500 foreigners who arrived on bikes to ride back across the border to Russia

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: The Independent

Norway is preparing to send over 5,500 refugees who crossed into the country from Russia on bicycles last year back across the border by the same mode of transport.

Police districts across Norway have been ordered to gather up and repair bikes that were abandoned by incoming refugees near the Storskog border crossing last year, after Norwegian authorities refused to grant asylum to the refugees who entered from Russia.

“We asked that the bikes which were left behind or claimed by the police to be gathered up for use by the foreigners who will be returned to Russia,” Jan Erik Thomassen, a section head from Norway’s National Police Directorate, said. “I can understand that it feels a bit awkward and odd.”

Despite the Arctic conditions this time of year, a border agreement between Russia and Norway means that bicycles have become the only way for refugees to cross from one country to the other. The agreement bars people from crossing over the border on foot and bans drivers from ferrying people into the country in their cars without documents.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-norway-tells-5500-foreigners-who-arrived-on-bikes-to-ride-back-across-the-border-to-a6812966.html

[7962]

1. Its a start. nt

[pampango]

2. Norway preferred to do it by bus. Russia is 'hostile to refugees' and refused the bus option.

Norwegian authorities said they hope Russia will allow the refugees to re-enter its Russian territory by bus, which would reduce costs and provide safer passage for those making the journey. But Russia, which has remained hostile to refugees despite the influx of migrants into Europe last year, seems unlikely to comply.

Despite over a 60 per cent rise in the number of applicants for asylum last year – including around 12,000 Syrians – Russia’s Federal Migration Service awarded refugee status to less than 9 per cent of the total applicants.

As hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to Europe last year by boat across the Mediterranean, a smaller number took the long way around, travelling to Norway, which is a member of the visa-free Schengen area, via the Russian Arctic. They typically obtained Russian visas in Damascus or Beirut – some even went so far as to enrol in a Russian university to get a student visa – then flew to Moscow and took a train to Murmansk. From there, it was about 130 miles from the Norwegian border, where they were placed in refugee camps.

The two countries began bouncing refugees between them in November after Norway said it would send back asylum seekers with Russian residency permits, but Russia refused to take them.

Svetlana Gannushkina, an immigration activist, said Syrians sent to Russia would not be deported but were unlikely to receive legal status. Of the 12,000 Syrians now in Russia, according to official figures, 2,000 have been granted one-year temporary asylum and 2,000 another legal status. “They’ll illegally travel around Russia, as they did before. Many refugees here are in a suspended state with no status.” She said Russian authorities gave visas to Syrians, but they often did not provide them with legal status or assistance in integrating.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/14/norway-tells-refugees-bikes-russia-bicycle-immigration-storskog

Apparently Norway has ruled that these people are not refugees since they have visas and permits to live in Russia.

[newthinking]

3. Russia's is doing pretty much the same as most European countries

Most of those in Europe are still "seeking asylum" but being allowed to stay.

As for the one's they want to "return" to Russia, the US would not be graceful about the return of people who falsified their intent in order to enter the country either and I doubt if they were able to do something similar here they would be let back in either. Most countries take visa fraud pretty serious. In the US if you misrepresent for a visa and exit you will not get back in for 10-15 years if at all.

The Guardian rarely has an unbiased story about Russia so it is also not certain how accurate this account is.