The Pasvik river originates from the lake Inari in Finland and the border between Norway and Russia runs along the deepest line of the river. The river valley itself is not very deep but rather wide. Sometimes the river is several kilometers wide. Before the Cold War it was no problem to cross the river and drive to the Russian side. But now there are strict rules for driving on the river. If you make a boat trip on the river, you should know very well where the border is and stay on the Norwegian side.
Yesterday we made a boat trip from Svanvik to the water power plant close the the Russian orthodox church Boris Gleb and back. In total, there are seven water power plants along the river Pasvik. The water power plant at the former Skoltefoss (foss = waterfall) at Boris Gleb was built in 1963.
You can see landmarks along both sides of the river. The Norwegian landmarks are yellow and black on top, the Russian ones are red and green.
On our way back we can clearly see the chimneys of the nickel works in the Russian town Nikkel. But also the smoke which is coming out of the chimneys is quite visible which, unfortunately, contains high amounts of sulfur dioxide.
