The commencement of group deportations of failed asylum seekers from Norway to Russia has prompted dozens to abscond from the low-security migrant camps in which they have until now been housed.
Norway is one of the northern European nations which has been a prime target for intrepid migrants, offering generous state benefits, and a reasonably welcoming environment, helped by the fact relatively few migrants have arrived there compared to other nations where tempers are starting to fray.
Yet unlike some of their neighbours the Norwegian government has been enforcing national migratory laws, and have been active in deporting individuals attempting to illegally access the country by the northern border with Russia, having already travelled thousands of miles past Moscow and Murmansk to get there.
Rather than sending the migrants back to Russia on foot, or as is more often the case by bicycle the Norwegian government is now organising buses, having carried a grand total of 13 migrants back so far, reports the BBC.
It may seem a small number, yet it is just the first shipment of an estimated 5,500 man backlog of deportees due to be sent back.
The ability to send migrants back by bus resembles a remarkable thawing in relations with Russia, which has tolerated predominantly Muslim migrants transiting through their territory to European nations but has no interest in admitting them as asylum seekers.
In past weeks, Russia has blocked Norway’s deportees from re-entering the country, leaving a growing number of individuals in limbo at the border, unable to enter either country, as reported by Breitbart London in December.
A desire to avoid being sent back to Russia has prompted a number of migrants to go on the run, absconding from the migrant camps established by the Norwegian government. Speaking to the press, the deputy director of just one migrant centre in the Arctic north of the country admitted they discovered 40 had vanished after they did a head-count.
Those who had gone were predominantly young, single men, reports TheLocal.no. It is understood many migrants believe once they go back over the border, the Russian government will immediately send them back to Syria.
Bussing migrants back to Russia is just the latest programme by the Norwegian government to rid itself of migrants.
Breitbart London reported in December on the Norwegian voluntary repatriation scheme, under which migrants who find living above the Arctic circle with sub-zero temperatures and little sunlight too much to handle can receive a government grant to pay their airfare home.
In addition to the plane tickets for the migrant and his family, the Norwegian government also provides $9,300 for the family to establish themselves in their homeland.
Although the sum seems like a lot of money, the Norwegian government has calculated it is less in the long term than the social and state benefit costs of housing migrants long term. Around 1,000 migrants have taken the money so far.