[2] Both the environmentally devastating emissions from the Norilsk Nickel plant outside Nikel in the Murmansk Oblast[3] and the territorial dispute over the Barents Sea have for decades been unresolved issues in Norway–Soviet, then Norway–Russia relations.

In 1958, Norsk Polar Navigasjon proposed to build a civilian airport on Svalbard, but this was protested by the Soviet Union.

[6] The Soviet Union also protested Kongsfjord Telemetry Station and the production of the 1985 action film Orion's Belt.

[8] There was only one legal crossing point, at Storskog (Norway) and Boris Gleb (Russia), on the E105 road about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of the town of Kirkenes.

[11] From the Norwegian side, the agreement was negotiated by Labour politician Jens Evensen and his protégé Arne Treholt, who was later exposed as a Soviet spy and convicted of treason.

[12] The opposition parties criticized Evensen for using the term Grey Zone, because it implied that Norway did not maintain its claim on rightful Norwegian territory in their opinion.