Finland To Close Entire Border With Russia To Stem Flow Of Asylum Seekers

[Elderberry]

Radio Free Europe 11/28/2023

Finland will close its entire border with Russia to travelers for the next two weeks in a bid to halt a flow of asylum seekers that Helsinki says are being funneled to the border by Russia to sow instability in the Nordic nation.

Finland last week shut all but one of its border crossings to travelers from Russia, keeping open only the Raja-Jooseppi crossing (Lotta on the Russian side) -- the northernmost crossing on Finland's 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, which is also the European Union's external border.

The Finnish government announced in a statement on November 28 that this crossing will close overnight on November 29, joining all the others in allowing only the transport of goods.

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Finland has seen a recent influx of asylum seekers arriving at its eastern border and blames a change in Russian border protocol that Moscow made subsequent to Finland's entry into NATO. Moscow denies the charge.

According to the Finnish Border Guard, some 900 asylum seekers entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from less than one per day previously. The countries of origin include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, the Border Guard said.

More: https://www.rferl.org/a/finland-russian-border-stop-asylum-seekers/32703449.html

[Fishrrman]

Closing the border is the right solution.
But for two weeks?
That's not going to solve anything.

[DefiantMassRINO]

... or could it be a cover story for closing the broder to prevent an influx of Russia's little green men, like the ones that helped annex Crimea for Russia.