ABSTRACT
In 1957 Norway and the USSR signed an agreement which establishes a maritime boundary between them in the Varangerfjord.1 Paragraph 1 of article 1 of the agreement provides that ‘the sea frontier’ between Norway and the USSR in the Varangerfjord ‘shall follow a straight line’ from the terminus of their land frontier to ‘the intersection of the outer limits of Norwegian and Soviet territorial waters’. The outer limit of Norway’s territorial sea (waters) is four miles, measured from a straight baseline drawn between the initial point of the boundary line and Cape Kibergnes; the outer limit of the USSR’s territorial sea is twelve miles, measured at the time the agreement was signed from the low-water mark. Paragraph 2 of article 1 provides that ‘neither of the Contracting Parties shall extend its territorial waters beyond the straight line’ running from the intersection referred to above to the mid-point of a line drawn across the mouth of the Varangerfjord between Cape Kibergnes (in Norway) and Cape Nemetskiy (in the USSR), this point being some 13.5 nautical miles (hereafter all references to miles are to nautical miles) from the two Capes, the nearest land (see Map 3.1). The two boundary lines described in paragraphs 1 and 2 are 12.6 and 11.75 miles in length respectively.
