Finland closes all but one border with Russia to stop the influx of asylum seekers

In an effort to stop the flow of asylum seekers into the Nordic country, Finland will close all but the northernmost crossing point on its border with Russia at midnight on Friday, according to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

More than 600 individuals who arrived in Finland through Russia without proper travel documents for the European Union since the beginning of the month prompted Helsinki to close multiple crossings and charge Moscow with facilitating the flow of migrants into the country. The charge is refuted by the Kremlin.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Orpo stated, “The government has decided to close more border stations today.”

According to immigration authorities, the asylum seekers are from a variety of countries, including Yemen, Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, and Syria.

In response to a request from Helsinki, the European Union border agency Frontex intends to send officers and equipment as early as next week, according to a spokesperson.

On Tuesday, EU Commissioner for Migration Ylva Johansson announced that Finland had requested an additional 60 Frontex officers, on top of the 10 currently stationed along its 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.

Following 75 migrants’ attempts to enter from Russia since last week, the majority of whom were from Somalia and Syria, Estonia earlier on Wednesday accused Russia of being involved in “a hybrid attack operation” to bring migrants to its border.

The Baltic nation declared that it was ready to deal with migrants who attempted to enter beyond authorized crossings and to close border crossings in the event that Russian pressure to control migration increased.

On Wednesday, the Finnish border guard reported that unauthorized entries were still occurring at Russian border crossing points and had advanced northward to the border towns of Vartius and Salla, which were still accepting asylum requests.

Despite an agreement that those two crossing points could only be reached by car, Finland claimed that Russia was allowing migrants to pass through them on foot.

Orpo stated, “There are increasing indications that the situation is getting worse on the eastern border.”

With the exception of the Raja-Jooseppi crossing in the Arctic, Finland will close three of the four remaining border crossing locations on Friday at midnight. The closure of all other crossing points for Finns wishing to enter Russia will continue until December 23.

“Raja-Jooseppi is the northernmost (border crossing) and it requires a real effort to get there,” Orpo said.

The government will seek to amend legislation that prevents it from closing the entire border, he added.

President Sauli Niinisto said on Monday repatriating people who do not meet the criteria for asylum had become impossible and called for an EU-wide solution to stop uncontrollable entry to Europe’s passport-free Schengen area.

The Kremlin said on Monday it had lodged a formal protest over Finland’s partial border closure, saying the decision reflected an anti-Russian stance.

Finland joined Nato in April after decades of military non-alignment and pragmatic friendly relations with Moscow.

In 2021, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia accused Moscow’s close ally Belarus of artificially creating a migrant crisis on their borders by flying in people from the Middle East and Africa and attempting to push them across the frontier – an accusation Belarus repeatedly denied.

(with inputs from Reuter)