MURMANSK, October 6. /TASS/. The compensation offered by the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture to the management of the Pasvik Nature Reserve In Russia’s Murmansk Region is 200 times lower than the actual amount of damage caused by the grazing of 40 Norwegian reindeer, the Reserve's website reports.
Instead of the 47 mln kroner ($4.3 mln) that Pasvik demanded, the Norwegian side is ready to pay only 250,000 kroner ($22,700).
A herd of 40 domestic Norwegian reindeer crossed the Russian-Norwegian border along the Paatsjoki River and grazed on reindeer moss in a specially protected area in Russia from December 2022 to February 2023. Moscow demanded that Oslo pay 47 mln kroner ($4.3 mln) in damages for the days the reindeer were in the Russian protected area, as well as pay 50,000 kroner ($4,500) for each animal that crossed into to Russia and grazed in the Pasvik Nature Reserve.
"The Norwegian side is not ready to pay 47 mln Norwegian kroner and has made a lowball offer, calculated based on the 2007 model, that is, the amount of 50,000 Norwegian kroner for the damage caused by 40 reindeer who stayed in the Russian reserve for 65 days in 2023. However, the Norwegian side recognizes the prestige of the Pasvik Reserve as a specially protected natural area and is ready to pay five times the amount for the damage done," said a report following a working meeting between representatives of the Pasvik Reserve and the Reindeer Husbandry Department of Troms and Finnmark of the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture.
The parties discussed the demands of the Russian reserve and the proposal for a compensation model. They will hold two more meetings to finalize the issue. At the first meeting, which will be held in the Russian village of Nickel, they will approve a model for damage compensation. At the second meeting, the parties will discuss methods to calculate the damage caused by the reindeer grazing. In the future, the meeting may be included in the 1977 Russian-Norwegian agreement on the mutual return of reindeer crossing the state border. Since there are still no regulations, the amount of compensation is always an issue.
Reindeer border crossing issue
The Pasvik Nature Reserve, which has an area of almost 58 square miles, is located in the border zones of Russia, Norway and Finland. The territory of the reserve is a narrow strip stretching for 27 miles along the state border between Russia and Norway. Its western border coincides with the Russian state border.
The problem of Norwegian reindeer crossing the Russian-Norwegian border over the frozen Paatsjoki River has existed for decades. The reason is that Norwegian reindeer herders establish pastures near the state border, and the 93-mile fence built in 1954 on the Norway-Russia border does not help prevent animals from crossing the border with Russia and grazing in Russian specially protected areas.