On December 14, the Finnish government will open the Vaalimaa and Niirala border crossing points for Russians. They will be open until January 14, 2024.
This was reported by the Minister of the Interior of Finland Mari Rantanen, as Yle reports.
Checkpoints of Finland.
Yle
Other checkpoints on the countryʼs eastern border will remain closed. According to Rantanen, the border will be "quickly closed" again if there is a significant flow of migrants from Russia. From December 14, Russians will be able to apply for asylum at these points.
Why did Finland close the border?
Finnish border guards reported that in recent months, an unusually large number of people who did not have entry documents tried to enter Finland through checkpoints on the southeastern border. Later, the Prime Minister of Finland stated that Russia helps illegal migrants, including citizens of the Russian Federation, countries of the Middle East and Africa, to enter the country. According to him, Russian border guards are involved in this. Belarus operates according to a similar scheme, pushing out migrants at the borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
Due to this surge in illegal migration, Finland decided to close border checkpoints. The officials noted that Russia is deliberately creating a crisis with refugees at the borders of the Schengen zone.