A multi-purpose visitor center opened at the Pasvik Nature Reserve in the Murmansk Region on January 17, 2017. Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi and Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov took part in the official ceremony.

The multi-purpose visitor center, built with financial support from the company Norilsk Nickel, will be used as a dialogue venue for holding forums on various levels to discuss environmental issues and other important topics of the border areas of Russia, Norway and Finland.

Created in 1992, the Pasvik Nature Reserve is part of the cross-border Pasvik Inari Trilateral Park. The reserve is located in the valley of the Paz (Paatsjoki) River, which flows from Lake Inari in Finland, runs across Russian territory and discharges into the Barents Sea in Norway. The reserve was established to preserve and study the northernmost conifer forests in Europe, vast wetlands of global significance and waterfowl, and to conduct comprehensive monitoring of northern ecosystems.