Finland will close its border with Russia for two weeks due to an influx of asylum seekers, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced on Tuesday, the 28th of November. He attributed the influx of migrants at the borders to “Russian influence activities” and said that such action would not be tolerated. The border closures are scheduled to begin overnight from Wednesday to Thursday and last until the 13th of December, reports Politico.
Finland’s decision to close the border came after last week the European border agency Frontex sent additional staff and equipment to reinforce its border control operations in the face of Finnish accusations that Russia was facilitating the influx of migrants.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that Russia was using migrants as a tool to put pressure on Finland. “NATO stands in solidarity with our ally Finland,” Stoltenberg said, according to Politico.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, relations between the two countries have soured. In response, Finland joined NATO.
The Finnish newspaper “Iltalehti” wrote last week that
Russian embassies have allegedly started issuing visas to people from the Horn of Africa
to enter Russia and then, with the help of Moscow’s security services, the people travel to the Finnish border.
The Kremlin denied these allegations and the Russian Foreign Ministry considered Finland’s previous decision to close some border checkpoints to be provocative.
Read also: Finland to shut down half of border crossing points with Russia due to illegal migration pressure
Follow us on Facebook and X!