Finland has now closed all its border crossings with Russia for at least a month. Friday night the final two posts, at Niirala and Vaalimaa, shut down. Finnish Border Guards report long queues and about 200 asylum seekers at these crossings on Friday.
To stop hundreds of people that Russian authorities started to let go to Finland ever since Finland joined NATO, the Finnish government decided to close all crossings. Initially, the ones at Niirala and Vaalima stayed open for humanitarian reasons. But when Finnish Border Guards took in more and more people there, Helsinki decided to close all. The Finnish government sees deliberate attempts by Russia to destabilize the Finnish societal systems, by transporting refugees from other parts of the world to the Finnish border. Click here to read more in the 20 November story at Nordicreporter.com.
Finland has a border of about 1,500 kilometres with Russia, with border crossings (from north to south) in Raja-Jooseppi, Sala, Kuusamo, Vartius, Niirala, Imatra, Nuijamaa and Vaalimaa. For limited train traffic the border crossing in Vainikkala remains open. Finland has also started to build a long border fence with Russia. Click here to read this story. | © 2023 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featuring photo by Santeri Viinamäki (CC)