Finland closes its border with Russia for another month

Finland has closed its border with Russia for another month — the restriction will be in effect until February 11, 2024. The threat of "hybrid attacks" still remains on the border.

This was reported by the Minister of the Interior of Finland Mari Rantanen, as Yle reports.

Rantanen explained that national security is a critical issue for Finland, and the threat of "hybrid attacks" still remains at the border. According to her, the decision to close the border can be canceled or changed if it is no longer necessary.

What is happening on the Russian-Finnish border

In recent years, Finland has been preparing for the fact that Russia will send a large number of asylum seekers to the border. The Russians have already done this on the Finnish border during the migration crisis of 2015.

In November 2023, border guards began to report that an unusually large number of people who did not have entry documents were trying to enter Finland through the checkpoints on the southeastern border. On November 15, the Prime Minister of Finland stated that Russia helps illegal migrants enter the country, including citizens of the Russian Federation, countries of the Middle East and Africa. According to him, Russian border guards are involved in this. Belarus also operates according to a similar scheme, pushing migrants to the borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Due to this surge in illegal migration, Finland decided to close four border points, and on November 19, the authorities sent the military to the Vartius checkpoint on the border with Russia and erected fences to stop the influx of refugees.

On November 22, 2023, Finland announced the closure of three more border crossing points, and on November 28, the last crossing point Raya-Joosepi was also closed, which was the most difficult to access.

Already on December 14, 2023, the Finnish government opened the Vaalimaa and Niirala border crossing points for Russians for a month, but as soon as they opened, asylum seekers went to the borders in a large stream, so the country closed these crossing points again from December 15, and the Minister of the Interior Finlandʼs Minister of Affairs Marie Rantanen called the situation at the border a threat to national security.