bilateral relations

Russian-Norwegian relations at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries are usually considered separately from Russian-Swedish relations in the same period. This was due to the peculiarities of the legal formalization of the Swedish-Norwegian union in 1814, according to which Norway received significant independence in the management of domestic policy. Based on diplomatic documents from the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, the author raises the question of the specifics of bilateral relations between Russia and Norway. Archival documents indicate the multilevel nature of the interaction between Norway and Russia. From the point of view of diplomatic practice, Norway was perceived in the Russian Foreign Ministry as an inseparable part of Sweden, with which interaction at the official level was carried out through Swedish state institution. On the other hand, direct Russian-Norwegian trade cooperation, including between the border northern suburbs of the two states, as well as Russia’s geopolitical interests in the region, required resolving issues precisely within the framework of direct Russian-Norwegian relations.