Finland has banned crossing the border with Russia on bicycles, Yle reports.
In recent months, a large number of illegal migrants have arrived at the border crossing in southeastern Finland. According to the border guards, there were 91 such people since the beginning of August. They were citizens of third countries who traveled through Russia in transit, seeking asylum in Finland.
Jukka Lukkari, deputy head of the Border Guard Service of Southeast Finland, said many of them tried to cross the border on bicycles. In the last week, there were about 30 illegal cyclists, so the authorities decided to introduce a ban.
Yle
According to Luccari, in the past people traveled across the border on bicycles only for short local trips.
"Now people were trying to cross the border without the necessary papers, without working bicycle lights and helmets," he explained.
- 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.