RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN NORTHERN NORWAY: HISTORICAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL TIES

This article addresses the topic “Commodification of the Russian language”. The author examines the process of commodification in the Norwegian city of Kirkenes and connects this phenomenon with the rise of the new economy and the current cooperation between Russia and Norway. The paper pre-sents an analysis of the linguistic landscape of Kirkenes, newspaper publications devoted to the “Russian Kirkenes” and interviews with Russian tourists and residents of the city. According to the author, the situation in Kirkenes illustrates the transition of the old economy into a new one: the former mining city turned into a tourist Mecca of the North, a center of cooperation of the Nordic countries. In such conditions, know-ledge of the Russian language becomes beneficial for the city's residents