Finland closes border for passenger traffic to Russia
More than a thousand kilometers of border and no way through: Finland has closed its last border crossing to Russia, which is still open to passenger traffic, for the time being. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said this at a televised press conference on Tuesday. Most recently, only one border crossing north of the Arctic Circle had been open.
In recent weeks, the Finnish Border Guard had registered a sharp increase in the number of people, mainly from the Middle East, entering Finland from Russia without the necessary documents and applying for asylum in Finland. As a result, Finland gradually closed its border crossings to Russia.
According to official figures, over 600 asylum seekers arrived from Russia in November alone. The Finnish government accuses Moscow of deliberately letting asylum seekers through to Finland without valid papers. "Russia has caused this situation and can stop it," said Prime Minister Orpo. According to Orpo, the sharp rise in the number of asylum seekers entering Finland is "an organized activity" and not a genuine emergency.
Border station remains open for freight traffic
Finland has a 1340-kilometre border with Russia. The only border crossing between Finland and Russia at Raja-Jooseppi that is still open for passenger traffic is to be closed from Thursday, initially for two weeks. Only the Vainikkala border station in south-eastern Finland will remain open for rail freight traffic.
Russian representatives have criticized the gradual closure of Finnish border crossings.
In view of the increase in arriving asylum seekers, the EU border protection agency Frontex announced last week that it would soon be sending 50 officials, additional personnel and patrol vehicles to Finland. These should help with the registration of migrants, checking documents and acting as interpreters.
Finland joined NATO in April in the wake of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The accession is one of the far-reaching geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine. The Nordic country, with a population of around 5.5 million, had previously attached great importance to military non-alignment for decades. With Finland's accession, NATO's external border with Russia more than doubled.
Due to the surge in asylum seekers without valid documents from the Middle East entering Finland via Russia, the Finnish government has been forced to close several border crossings. This has led to the imminent closure of the Raja-Jooseppi border crossing, which is currently the only one still open for passenger traffic to Russia.
The closure of the border has sparked criticism from Russian representatives, who argue against the restrictions on passenger traffic. However, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo maintains that the increase in asylum seekers is an "organized activity" and not a genuine emergency, implying that Russia may be deliberately facilitating the migration of refugees.
Source: www.dpa.com
