A rally was held in Helsinki against the closure of the checkpoint on the border with Russia

In the capital of Finland in Helsinki, a rally was held in front of the parliament building against the closure of four border trips on the border with Russia. Participants in the action insist that the country's authorities must observe the rights of those who want to continue to communicate with relatives and close people living abroad, and not limit their entry right.

Over the past few months, several thousand foreigners who did not have the necessary documents have tried to get to Finland from Russia. These are citizens of Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Turkey. In the past, Moscow did not allow such foreigners to cross the border on their part. Helsinki believes that Russian border guards deliberately pass refugees through their checkpoints.

On November 16, the Finnish authorities decided to close four border crossings on the border with Russia - Baalimaa, Nuiyayamaa, Imatra, Vyartsil. From midnight on November 18, they stopped their work. At the same time, the Finnish authorities said they could close the entire eastern border "at any time."

On the eve of November 17, a record number of people who asked for refuge for the last few days - 163 petitioners arrived at the border guises, the border service of the Southeast Finland said .

Residents of Finland, who have relatives and relatives in Russia, were unhappy with the decision of the authorities, so it "breaks family ties." They created a petition and applied for a rally by the Helsinki parliament. Its holding was agreed with the authorities, the police only did not allow the participants to climb the steps of the building.

As stated in the statement of the initiative group that organized the rally, its participants condemn the “practice of using refugees as weapons in international politics” and admit that Finland should ensure security on the borders. But at the same time, they notice, the decision to close the border limits the right of people to meet with family members.

"It is necessary to find a more flexible solution. For example, if a person is not in danger in Russia, then the border guard service may immediately refuse him to cross the border if he does not have the necessary documents," the statement said.

The organizers of the rally emphasize that they do not want to “put up against themselves Finnish society and the government,” but believe that people should be able to cross the border if there are legal grounds for it.

According to various estimates, from 100 to 300 people came to the Finland parliament.

Some of the speakers, who introduced himself as a former border service officer in Russia, said that the border service does not have the right to detain people on the border for no reason.

"People who arrive on the Russian side have documents for crossing the borders, they cannot be detained. Their further crossing the border and the fact that their documents are destroyed during this, [leads to the fact that they] arrive in Finland without documents. This is decided by the method of negotiations between two border services. The border service of the Russian Federation did not interrupt communication. If this communication is restored, then the issue will be restored, then the issue will be the issue This decision was resolved not to solve refugee problems and crossing their border, but aimed at restricting the rights of people who cross the border with all the necessary documents, ”he said.

The audience also chanted "Open the border!"

The rally ended after 14:00 local time without incident.

• After the Russian large -scale invasion of Ukraine, Finland tightened the conditions for entering the country for Russians. The owners of Schengen visas in Finland, as a rule, are not allowed, a residence permit in the European Union, permanent residence or citizenship of the EU countries is needed. In some cases, transit to the airport is possible.
• Finland also introduced the ban on the entry of cars registered in Russia - after the European Commission published an explanation to the sanctions regime, which states that entry into the EU cars with Russian numbers can be equated with imports prohibited by the sanction regime.