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Arctic Yearbook 2013
Kirkenes-Nikel
rather bleak future that seemed then to be the destiny of the town, with the changing and more open
character of the border as well as the other options offered by the altered and more internationalized
environment the town has become dynamic and flourishing.
Nikel has been less touched by the changes in the external environment. The local economic base
has basically remained the same and it has not changed in the way that Kirkenes has, although it is
also to be noted that the underlying discourse on the part of Nikel shows at least some signs of de-
securitization. This is in particular evidenced by that Nikel no longer has the status – as it had before
2008 – of a closed border territory (Russian Ministry of Justice, 2008). The town still hosts some
minor military entities and has thus the character of a garrison town, and in hosting the
Norilsk
Nickel
plant it is also a heavily industrialized town. One aspect of such an industrialization is that due
to the smelter part of the production of nickel, Nikel also has the reputation of a rather polluted
mining town. The town seems in general to have declined in importance due to a variety of factors
such as reduced support from the central government, cuts in the number of military personnel as
well as declining production at the
Norilsk Nickel
plant. The diminishing standing is well reflected in
the fact that the number of inhabitants (around 12,500 in 2012) has dropped by a third in
comparison to the days of the Cold War.
Clearly, Kirkenes and Nikel deviate from each other as to their profile and dynamics of
development. They are proximate as to geography, both have an industrial profile and host military
entities but in most other regards differ from each other. Yet they have been prepared to utilize the
changes in their external environment and the increased prospects of partnership by engaging in
town-twinning. Notably, the emphasis on cooperation boils down to an extension of previous
policies as the search for togetherness between Kirkenes and Nikel goes back to 1973 and the era of
the Cold War. Kirkenes and the Pechenga district (part of the Murmansk region) – including Nikel –
at that time signed an agreement pertaining to friendship with emphasis on cultural and sport
exchange in order to alleviate the divisive impact of the border and develop familiarity in order to
leave behind various negativities residing in the past as well as the then prevailing situation (Viken,
et.al, 2008: 30). In fact, at that time the collaborative ties between the two towns consisted for the
most part of irregular cultural contacts (Brednikova and Voronkov, 1999). The togetherness was
rather limited, although since the initial period it has been taken much further in the post-Soviet era,
with both the Norwegian and Russian sides expressing interest in reinvigorating their town-to-town
relations on a principally new and more pragmatic basis.
The mutual interest and intensified contacts between the towns resulted in the signing of an
agreement between the Sør-Varanger community and the Pechenga district (28 March 2008),
including an agreement on a special Kirkenes-Nikel twin city project (Soglashenie o razvitii
druzhestvennyx svjazey, 2008). Notably, this agreement was preceded by a letter from the
Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre in March 2008 to the chair-person of Sør-Varanger,
referring to talks conducted between the Norwegian minister and Russia‘s foreign minister Sergei
Lavrov. Støre also articulated progress in talks to establish in the long term a joint economic and
industrial zone of cooperation (Pomor) reaching across the Norwegian-Russian border. He
recommended that the representatives of Sør-Varanger and Pechenga come together in order for