Arctic fences for reindeer—and people

Press, 28 May 1979, Page 16

Arctic fences for reindeer—and people

By 1

MARK ARNOLD-FORSTER,

who visited the

Soviet frontier in Norway.

N.A.T.O.’s only face-to-face frontier with the Soviet Union in Europe is 196 kilometres long and is delineated, though not marked, by two fences.

The fence on the Norwegian side is designed to prevent Norwegian reindeer from straying into Russia; the one on the Russian side, which is much more effective, is designed to prevent persons from escaping into Norway. It is a tense place, but not solemn. There is no trace of ( the doomwatch atmosphere ; (which pervades the Penta- ; gon) among the calm, handi picked Norwegians who man j, the frontier. Nor are the s Russians as ferocious, up here in the Arctic, as they Tare supposed to be.

f They are just meticulous. ! They always return the Nor- ; wegian reindeer — which are much more successful than i people at crossing the border. They also returned two Norwegian children, aged 5 and 7, who outwitted the Iron Curtain two years

ago. But the Norwegians had to sign for them ■ — as with the reindeer. There have been other, less happy, incidents. A Swede with a record of mental illness, and an American student have both crossed into Russia, and a Russian officer has crossed into Norway in search of political asylum. And on one hilarious occasion the Russians opened a sort of speakeasy where the Norwegian Lapps were able to buy cut-rate vodka for three treasured months.

Today, also, there is a thriving tourist trade. Last year about 3000 Lapps and Norwegians crossed the border legally to join package tours to the Black Sea. Intourist can transport the people of North Norway to the sun — which they badly need — more cheaply and quickly than Scandinavian Airlines. Ail these breaches in the Iron Curtain — legal or illegal — are controlled and adjudicated by two border

commissioners who have considerable powers to make their own decisions independently of Moscow or Oslo. The Norwegian commissioner is responsible not to any warlord but to the Ministry of Justice. The Russian commissioner is responsible to the K.G.B. From time to time they eat together, in Russia and in Norway alternately. From time to time they telephone each other to settle problems. Russian guard dogs have a way of chasing Norwegian reindeer. Religion complicates the frontier in other ways. The Lapps, who would seem to be the people with the best ethnic right to live in this desolate place, are divided into two sets — the western and the eastern. The eastern one who — to make matters even more complicated — also live in the west, are devout members of a Greek Orthodox sect which appears to be all their own. Unusually, also, they worship outside their churches — a remarkable act of faith in the Arctic. But then, a Greek Orthodox Lapp church is about as big as a garden toolshed.