From the BBC:
“Finland to close some crossing points on Russia border – PM”
Finland's prime minister has announced that his country will
close some crossings on the border with Russia. Petteri Orpo said four crossing
points in the south would close at midnight on Friday, while two in the north
would stay open for asylum applications. Finland has seen a surge in illegal
crossings from Russia in recent days, mostly of third-country citizens. Mr Orpo
accuses Russia of deliberately helping people without proper documents to get
to the border.
The prime minister said the Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Niirala and
Imatra border crossings would close. These points, in the far south-east of the
country, have seen a surge in illegal crossings by citizens of countries
including Syria, Yemen and Iraq. The crossings at Salla and Vartius, far to the
north, would remain open for asylum applications, Mr Orpo said. Seventy-five
asylum seekers arrived in Finland on Wednesday, according to border guards. Finnish
authorities say the people coming to their country arrive legally in Russia
before travelling to the border to pass into Finland and claim asylum.
The prime minister has accused the Russian authorities of
engineering the crossings. "It is clear that these people are helped and
they are also being escorted or transported to the border by border
guards," Mr Orpo said on Tuesday. In 2021, thousands of migrants flew to
Russian ally Belarus before crossing into EU member states Poland and
Lithuania. At the time, the EU accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko
of seeking to destabilise the bloc by facilitating the passage of third-country
citizens into the EU.
Finland shares a 1,340km (833-mile) border with Russia,
Europe's longest.
^ Russia is clearly trying to punish Finland for joining NATO
after Russia invaded Ukraine. ^
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