– I think it is very embarrassing to live in a municipality that does not clearly distance itself from the agreement with Petsjenga. So says the editor of the Barents Independent Observer, Thomas Nilsen. On 26 April this year, the municipal council in Sør-Varanger processed the cooperation agreements with the two Russian twin cities of Severomorsk and Petschenga in the Murmansk region. The collaboration agreement with the former was terminated, while the agreement with Petsjenga was put on hold – not terminated. Before Wednesday’s municipal council, Sør-Varanger Høyre had sent an inquiry to the municipal council to take the agreement with Petsjenga up for consideration. The local party believes the agreement should be terminated, but they did not receive the support of the majority in the municipal council. – The municipality engages in weapons training Thomas Nilsen strongly disagrees with what the municipal council in Sør-Varanger came up with. This after the municipal council had earlier in the day rejected the fourth written request in a month to take the agreement with Petsjenga up for reconsideration. – The Pecheneg has sent thousands of murderers to the war of terror against Ukraine. And the mayor drives around with a big Z on the car. The municipality also carries out weapons training and propaganda in support of the war in both schools and kindergartens. – There is not a single popular basis for having a collaboration with Petsjenga as the situation is now. And Sør-Varanger should take a clear stand on this. The agreement belongs on the scrap heap of history, says Nilsen to news. Thomas Nilsen believes that there are many reasons why the agreement with Petsjenga in the Murmansk region should be terminated. Photo: Kristina Kalinina Has been rejected four times It was Brede Sæther in Sør-Varanger Conservative who on Wednesday sent an inquiry to the municipal council to take the agreement with Petsjenga up for a new consideration. And he has done that three more times in the last month. All have been rejected. – Even though this is a small issue in the big picture, I’m not giving up yet. I hope that there will be “new costs” in the municipal council after the autumn elections, so that I don’t have to send interpellations to have the agreement scrapped, he says. – What do you think is the reason why the municipal council does not want to scrap the agreement with Petsjenga? – The idea is perhaps that it will be easier to resume the Barents cooperation after the war if we have an agreement at the bottom. But we do this just as well without an agreement. Because the day Russia is back, and comes to terms with its history, then we will stand up, says Sæther. Brede Sæther (H) brought an interpellation to the municipal council on 31 May. There he wanted the municipality to terminate the agreement with Petsjenga in the Murmansk region. Photo: Tarjei Abelsen – Petsjenga is our neighboring municipality According to the mayor of Sør-Varanger, Lena Norum Bergeng (Ap), there is a difference between Severomorsk and Petsjenga. And that is one of the reasons why the agreement with Pechenga has been put on hold, while the agreement with Severomorsk has been terminated. – Severomorsk is a closed military city and main base for the Northern Fleet. Petsjenga is our neighboring municipality, says the Sør-Varanger mayor. – How has the fact that Petsjenga has sent many soldiers to the war affected the treatment in the municipal council? – It is true that some of the first soldiers (on the Russian side, editor’s note) who were sent to the war came from this area. Nevertheless, all wishes to resume the termination of the agreement have been voted down. We have only done what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended us to do, says Bergeng, and adds: – There has been no connection between Sør-Varanger municipality and Petsjenga since 24 February last year, says Bergeng. Mayor of Sør-Varanger municipality, Lena Norum Bergeng, believes it is better to put the agreement on hold than to terminate it. Photo: Kristina Kalinina / news
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Sør-Varanger municipality refuses to terminate the agreement with the Russian town of Petchenga – news Troms og Finnmark
