Finland will close its entire border with Russia to travellers for the next two weeks in a bid to halt the unusually large flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, which the government and its allies say is an orchestrated move by Moscow.
Finland last week shut all but one of its border posts to travellers from Russia, keeping open only the northernmost crossing located in the Arctic. But this too would now close, the government said on Tuesday (28 November).
Finland will close its entire border with Russia to travellers for the next two weeks in a bid to halt the unusually large flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, which the government and its allies say is an orchestrated move by Moscow.
Finland last week shut all but one of its border posts to travellers from Russia, keeping open only the northernmost crossing located in the Arctic. But this too would now close, the government said on Tuesday.
Finland to close all but northernmost border crossing with Russia
Finland will close all but the northernmost crossing point on its border with Russia from midnight on Friday (24 November) in a bid to halt a flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.
“This is Russia’s influence operation and we do no accept it,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a press conference.
On Monday he said his country had intelligence information on Russian authorities assisting the asylum seekers and that despite Finnish border closures, there were still more people heading towards Finland in Russia.
On Monday, only three asylum seekers arrived in Finland through the remote Raja-Jooseppi station, the last open border post, and on Tuesday there were no entrants.
The border station will remain open on Wednesday before closing until 13 December, the government said.
Finland’s ombudsman for non-discrimination last week said the remote location of Raja-Jooseppi prompted concerns that Helsinki was jeopardising the right to seek asylum.
Asylum can still be sought by travellers arriving by boat and by air, the Finnish government said on Tuesday.
The Brief – The bicycle migrants
Finland has identified a surge in asylum-seekers from Russia and has taken measures to curb it by closing four of the nine border crossing points along its 1,340 km-long frontier with its big eastern neighbour.
Read more with EURACTIV
North Korea, US envoys engage in rare, public sparring match at UNThe UN ambassadors of the United States and North Korea sparred at the Security Council on Monday (27 November) over Pyongyang’s first spy satellite launch and the reasons for growing tensions in a rare, direct, public exchange between the adversaries.
Source: euractiv.com
