Russia agrees to take 200 to 300 asylum seekers from Norway

Russia agreed on Wednesday to take back 200 to 300 people whose asylum applications were rejected by Norway and said their returns can only happen by plane to Moscow, local media reported.

The Norwegian government acknowledged a few weeks ago that Russia only wanted to receive around 700 of the 5,500 people who came to Norway via the Arctic border crossing station Storskog last year, according to newspaper VG.

Wednesday's meeting in Moscow confirmed the impression and Russia will now receive somewhere between 200 and 300 people with multiple visas and residence permits, VG said.

"The reality is that Russia accepts returns from the group of 700 people with multiple visas and legal residence," Thor Arne Aass, an official of Norway's Ministry of Justice, was quoted as saying.

About half of the 700 migrants have already left Norway. Some 250 have been returned to Russia, while an undisclosed amount have been sent to their home countries, Aass said.

Norway did not receive any guarantees from Moscow that there would not be any new influxes of asylum seekers via Storskog in the future, according to the report.

"We expressed that we have a common interest in a controlled and regulated immigration and that it is an unfortunate situation that this route in the north becomes a main channel into Schengen. This was the point the Russians agreed with us," Aass said. Enditem