The Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced its desire to maintain channels for contacts with Russia

Norway is interested in continuing diplomatic relations with Russia. This was stated by Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt.

On August 3, the Russian government announced that it had included Norway in the list of states committing unfriendly actions against Russian diplomatic and consular missions abroad.

Huitfeldt noted that she was not surprised by this decision, although, according to her, there are no grounds to assert that Norway is unfriendly towards Russia. The minister added that so far the Russian side has not officially announced its decision.

“As neighboring countries, we are interested in the functioning of diplomatic relations and channels for contacts,” leads words by Huitfeldt local TV channel TV 2.

Russia initiated the list of unfriendly countries in May 2021, which implies “unfriendly actions” by the countries included in this list in relation to Russian diplomatic and consular employees and sets a number of restrictions. In particular, Russia can set the number of individuals with whom the diplomatic missions of such countries can enter into employment contracts. Norway has a limit of 27 people.

In addition, Norway is on the list of unfriendly countries, formed in March 2022 in response to Western sanctions.

On April 6, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of three Russian diplomats from the kingdom. After that, Russian Ambassador to Norway Teimuraz Ramishvili said that the measures that Moscow would take in response to this decision would be “tangible.” As a result, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced persona non grata of three employees of the Norwegian embassy in Moscow and strongly protested to the ambassador of the kingdom.