ИСТИНА

In 2008 Nikel (Russia) and Kirkenes (Norway), two small settlements in the High North, decided to call themselves “twin cities”. Since 2012 residents of both places have been enjoying the special visa-free regime allowing them to stay within 30-km area visa free. However, the appearance of Syrian refugees trying to flee to Norway in 2015 has changed the permeability of the Russian-Norwegian border. What has been the specter of borderlanders’ opinions on suddenly topical migrant route through Russia to Scandinavia and its global media coverage? Has the location on the Arctic migrant route pulled the twin cities together or split them up? The presentation aims to reveal variety of civic response to the challenge of international migration by investigating the public opinion of border twin citizens experiencing the Arctic migrant route.