The Niirala border checkpoint between Finland and Russia is pictured in Tohmajärvi, Finland, on December 15, 2023. Finland announced its border with Russia would remain closed until January 14, 2024, because of Russia’s efforts to send waves of migrants through. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
THE WATCH STAFF
The Finnish government has extended its border closures with Russia for the third time, with border restrictions remaining in effect until February 11, 2024. Finland first closed its Russian border in November 2023 after Moscow sent waves of migrants to overwhelm border crossings, endangering the Nordic nation’s national security. It’s the latest act of Russian interference in Europe’s Far North, a region that has drawn closer to the U.S. and NATO in the face of a growing threat from Moscow, the Finnish government said.
“This is a sign that the Russian authorities are continuing their hybrid operation against Finland. This is something that Finland will not tolerate,” Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen said at a news conference in Helsinki, according to the Independent Barents Observer, a Norwegian newspaper.
Finland closed its Vaalimaa and Niirala checkpoints on December 15, 2023, and they were to remain closed until January 14, 2024. The closures mean only one land crossing remains open between Russia and the Nordic nation: Norway’s Storskog checkpoint in the country’s far North. Norway said it will close Storskog immediately if Russia sends more migrants, according to the newspaper.
While the border crossings remain closed, Finnish authorities are only accepting asylum requests at airports and ports. In November 2023, nearly 900 migrants appeared at Finnish borders with coordination from Russian authorities, the government said. The Finns closed their borders for two weeks, reopening them again in mid-December 2023. Immediately, migrants began rushing the border crossings, prompting the Finnish government to again close the border.
“We’re a liberal democracy and we said, we’ll open the crossings on December 14. So, the Russians just waited until we opened them,” retired Maj. Gen. Pekka Toveri, a former Finnish military intelligence chief and recently elected member of the Finnish Parliament, told Politico Europe. “But the border agreement we have with Russia says a border closure must have 24 hours’ notice. Twenty-four hours is a long time. You can push a lot of people across the border.”
Finland has also decided to ban imports of Russian liquefied natural gas beginning in 2025, saying that gas sales have fueled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Dagens.com, a Danish news site.