INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia will reduce its consular staff in Norway following a request from authorities in Oslo, the Russian Embassy said late Monday.In a post
on Facebook, the Russian mission in Oslo said that "only two diplomats will remain in the consular section" after a request to cut its staff
numbers by October 17.Russia's consulates in Kirkenes, near the Russian-Norwegian border in the north, and in Barentsburg, a Russian
mining community in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, announced on social media that they would be temporarily suspending their consular
services due to the staff reduction.The Norwegian Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday that it had "been in dialogue with the Russian side for
extent of the reduction in Russian consular staff.Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Norway expelled 15 Russian embassy
consulate in Murmansk in northwestern Russia, now has only a limited diplomatic presence in the country, with a reduced embassy in Moscow
and a consulate in Saint Petersburg.
