Due to the influx of African and Asian migrants, Finland will close its entire border with Russia. Helsinki indicates that this is a response to Moscow’s organized action.
– We have a border of 1,300 kilometers with Russia and it is not fenced – Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo recently explained. At the same time, the policy indicated that the land border as such is open, but border points may be closed in accordance with the Border Protection Act.
Finland’s Border Guard Act allows asylum applications to be submitted centrally at certain checkpoints at the country’s border.
Closed border crossing
On November 22, Finland decided to close almost all border crossings with Russia. Only the Raja-Jooseppi border crossing in Lapland remained open. The Helsinki decision was a response to the actions of the Russian border guard, which deliberately allowed a group of ‘asylum seekers’ to pass through without checking their documents.
Raja-Jooseppi is a small and northernmost border crossing in the Sami province of Inari. From here it is about 250 km to Murmansk.
At the same time, the head of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior stated that the closure of the checkpoint in Lapnonia is “inevitable” due to the actions of Russian services deliberately transporting foreigners.
As the government announced in Helsinki, immigrants coming to Finland via Russia will now no longer be able to cross the eastern border and submit asylum applications. Only the transport of goods across the Finnish-Russian border is permitted.
Russia’s response
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “does not accept such accusations.” According to him, “border crossings are used by those who have the right to do so and in this regard our border guards fully comply with all official orders.”
Until the fall of 2023, the Russian Border Guard did not allow people who did not have the documents that gave them the right to enter the country to approach the Finnish border. The situation changed in October, when the entry of people without visas was stopped.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
