Finland Closes Border Crossings Again Amid Surge of Undocumented Migrants from Russia

Finland on Thursday opened the Valima and Nyral border crossings, which were closed at the end of last month along with six other border crossings on the border with Russia. However, already on the same day, Finland announced that the Valima and Niral points will be closed again and will remain closed until January 14.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer land border with Russia, and since August, Russian border guards have allowed almost 1,000 undocumented illegal immigrants to arrive at Finnish border crossing points. Most of the migrants who arrived in Finland across the Russian border in November are from Yemen, Somalia and Syria.

Helsinki authorities believe that the Russian side is deliberately organizing the flow of migrants to destabilize Finland.

Finland’s relations with its eastern neighbor worsened after Russia’s repeated invasion of Ukraine. After Finland joined NATO in April, Russia vowed to retaliate.

On Thursday, several dozen illegal immigrants without documents arrived at the border crossing points in Valima and Nirala. The opening of these points was a kind of experiment to ascertain whether the “phenomenon” of migrants still exists, the Finnish government explained.

2023-12-15 17:49:05
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