Norway plans to combat refugee influx through Russia

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Tuesday her government plans to propose emergency legislation to deal with the growing influx of asylum seekers into the Scandinavian country, including those through Russia, local media reported.

Solberg said she would present a bill to parliament on Friday to ensure that asylum seekers who have documents allowing them to stay in Russia could be turned back at the border, according to news agency NTB.

The bill, which also won the support of opposition parties Labor, Christian Democrat, Centre and Socialist Left, is expected to be treated in parliament next week and could enter into force as early as Friday next week, the report said.

"The current Immigration Act is not designed for the situation we are up against today. It will all go slowly. We want to get a system where we get legal authority to deny application process for people who have resided in Russia, and return them quickly," public broadcaster NRK quoted Solberg as saying.

"This is an emergency measure that is in addition to other measures we have discussed," she added.

The emergency legislation proposal came as growing numbers of refugees are entering into Norway at the northern border crossing station Storskog from Russia.

According to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), a weekly record of 2,452 asylum seekers arrived in Norway last week and 1,113 of them came through Storskog. Endit