customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Finland will close all but the northernmost crossing point on its border with Russia from midnight on Friday in a bid to halt a flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.
Since the beginning of the month, more than 600 people without valid travel documents to the European Union have come to Finland via Russia, prompting Helsinki to shut several crossings and accuse Moscow of funnelling migrants. The Kremlin denies the charge.
“The government has today decided to close more border stations,” Orpo told a press conference on Wednesday.
The asylum seekers come from a range of nations including Yemen, Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria, according to immigration authorities.

The European Union border agency Frontex plans to deploy officers and equipment to Finland as soon as next week in response to a request from Helsinki, a spokesperson said.
EU migration commissioner Ylva Johansson said on Tuesday Finland had asked for 60 Frontex officers on top of 10 already stationed along its 1,340-kilometre frontier with Russia.
‘Illegal’: Finland registers increased number of migrants at Russia border
Earlier on Wednesday, Estonia accused Russia of involvement in “a hybrid attack operation” to bring migrants to its border, after 75 migrants – mostly from Somalia and Syria – attempted to enter from Russia since last week.
The Baltic country said it had prepared to close border crossings if migration pressure from Russia rose, and to deal with migrants if they tried to enter outside official crossings.
The Finnish border guard said on Wednesday that unauthorised entries continued at crossing points with Russia and had moved further north along the border to Vartius and Salla, two frontier stations that still accepted asylum applications.
Finland said Russia was letting migrants through those two crossing points by foot despite an agreement that they could only be crossed by car.

“There are growing signs that the situation is worsening on the eastern border,” Orpo said.
Finland will shut three of the four remaining border crossing points from midnight on Friday, leaving only the Raja-Jooseppi crossing in the Arctic open. All other crossings will be shut until December 23, also for Finns wanting to enter Russia.
“Raja-Jooseppi is the northernmost (border crossing) and it requires a real effort to get there,” Orpo said.
The government will seek to amend legislation that prevents it from closing the entire border, he added.
President Sauli Niinisto said on Monday repatriating people who do not meet the criteria for asylum had become impossible and called for an EU-wide solution to stop uncontrollable entry to Europe’s passport-free Schengen area.
The Kremlin said on Monday it had lodged a formal protest over Finland’s partial border closure, saying the decision reflected an anti-Russian stance.
Finland joined Nato in April after decades of military non-alignment and pragmatic friendly relations with Moscow.
In 2021, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia accused Moscow’s close ally Belarus of artificially creating a migrant crisis on their borders by flying in people from the Middle East and Africa and attempting to push them across the frontier – an accusation Belarus repeatedly denied.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


US falling rapidly behind China in preparing for next war, 2 congressional panels hear

Zelensky says Ukraine ‘victory plan’ is ready

Ukraine drone attack triggers earthquake-sized blast at Russian arsenal

China-Russia trade inches up as US sanctions and payment issues strain growth

Russia

Finland to close all but one border crossing with Russia to halt flow of asylum seekers

Finnish Border Guards check the documents of arriving migrants at the international border crossing at Salla, northern Finland. Photo: AFP

The closed Nuijamaa border station between Russia and Finland in Lappeenranta, Finland. Photo: AP

A section of a border fence separating Finland and Russia. Photo: AFP

Finland registers increased number of undocumented migrants at Russia border

A view of the Russian border crossing point Svetogorsk from the Pelkola border crossing point in Imatra, southeastern Finland. File photo:  AP

Finnish probe links Chinese ship to damaged Baltic Sea gas pipeline

Finnish police said a probe of an anchor believed to have damaged  Balticconector pipeline likely belonged to a Chinese cargo ship. Photo: Elering/Handout via Reuters

An anchor recovered from a 3-metre deep mudhole where only a small part of it was showing when detected next to the damaged Balticconnector gas pipeline. Photo: NBI/Handout via Reuters

Finland’s left-wing PM Sanna Marin concedes defeat as right-wing NCP claims election victory

Sanna Marin, leader of the Social Democrats, at the Parliament Building in Helsinki, Finland on Sunday. Photo: Bloomberg

National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo speaks at the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki on Sunday. Photo: AP 

Supporters of the National Coalition Party (NCP) celebrate their victory at the parliament election party at the Ostrobotnia club in Helsinki, Finland in the early hours of Monday. Photo: AP 

Discovery Reports

Finland’s president defends joining Nato without Sweden

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey on Friday. Photo: Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Presidential Press Office / Handout via Reuters

News

World

Europe

Russia & Central Asia

Border crossing closures follow a surge in asylum seekers which Finland claims Russia is intentionally pushing
Nato’s newest member Finland guards 1,300km of border with Russia, the alliance’s longest stretch facing its main adversary


Border crossing closures follow a surge in migrants which Finland claims Russia is intentionally pushing.


Finland to close all but one border crossing with Russia to halt flow of asylum seekers

Border crossing closures follow a surge in asylum seekers which Finland claims Russia is intentionally pushing Nato’s newest member Finland guards 1,300km of border with Russia, the alliance’s longest stretch facing its main adversary

Border crossing closures follow a surge in asylum seekers which Finland claims Russia is intentionally pushing

Nato’s newest member Finland guards 1,300km of border with Russia, the alliance’s longest stretch facing its main adversary