Official: Finland closes checkpoints on the border with Russia

The Finnish government has decided to close checkpoints on the border with Russia, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced on November 16.

According to Orpo, the government decided to close the border crossings on the eastern border on the night from Friday to Saturday.

Border crossing points will be closed «Vaalimaa», «Nujjamaa», «Niirala» and “Imatra”. “It will be impossible to cross the border at these four checkpoints,” explained Interior Minister Marie Rantanen.

The Finnish government will also concentrate the acceptance of applications for international protection and asylum at border crossings Salla and Vartius. The restrictions will remain in effect until February 18, 2024.

Rantanen added that Finns will also not be able to pass through closed checkpoints. They will have to use the northern border crossings.

As the deputy head of the Finnish Border Guard Markku Hasinen clarified, a total of about 280 asylum seekers have recently arrived from Russia. And according to the latest data, this phenomenon is already spreading to the northern crossings. That is, in his opinion, there is a clear danger of escalation, and the measures taken are aimed at ensuring that the situation does not get out of control.

Rantanen added that it is important to understand that this is not an issue of immigration or asylum policy in Finland, but “there are signs and information that people are being driven to Finland.” And in this case, the number of asylum seekers itself is not a fundamental issue at all.

Fontanka told how tensions on the Russian-Finnish border grew over the course of a week: dozens of refugees on bicycles rushed to Suomi without documents for entry, although previously Russian border guards would not let them through. At first they banned bicycles from entering, but this did not help. Watch the report from the border here.