Finland is preparing to close the border with Russia – IltaLehti

Finland is preparing to close its border with Russia. by the Finnish publication IltaLehti, citing sources in the field of foreign policy and security This was reported .

Finnish authorities may close the four remaining checkpoints on the border with Russia at midnight on Wednesday. The government can make such a decision as early as today, November 20.

checkpoints operated on the land border between Russia and Finland In total, nine . On the night of November 18, four of them were closed - Vaalimaa (on the Russian side - Torfyanovka), Nuyamaa (Brusnichnoe), Imatra (Svetogorsk) and Niirala (Vyartsilya). The next day, was temporarily closed the fifth checkpoint, Vartius, . The reason is a sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers.

Finnish authorities claim that the Russian side delivers migrants, who then ask for asylum, to the neutral zone. IltaLehti writes that, according to intelligence, Russian authorities are helping migrants get to the border, using them as another means of putting pressure on the Finnish government.

So, on Saturday, November 18, 67 people asked for asylum at the Vartius checkpoint alone.

In turn, the Kremlin said that it could not influence the decision of the Finnish authorities to close the border and accused Helsinki of a “Russophobic position.”

“It’s unlikely that we are somehow able to influence [the situation], because there is no dialogue and [this happened] through no fault of ours. We were not the initiators of curtailing the dialogue. This causes nothing but deep regret. We have had long-standing and very good relations with Finland,” said press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

The Finnish Border Guard Act allows the country's authorities to close down individual checkpoints or all at once, if necessary. In addition, Finnish authorities can only accept asylum applications in one location, such as Helsinki International Airport.

To receive the main news faster, subscribe to our telegram and Twitter .