When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, this was an unforeseen and unexpected event. The vast post-Soviet space was suddenly transformed from an enigmatic and somewhat threatening territory to a new potential market and a transitional economy that generated immense interest from Western politicians and entrepreneurs alike. The introduction to the period 1991-2014 in this two-volume history of Russian-Norwegian relations from 1914 to 2014 briefly presents the most important areas of Norwegian-Russian collaboration in the post-Soviet era. It also suggests some of the main challenges that were faced by both sides in the many Norwegian-Russian collaborative efforts that developed with some intensity during the 1990s.