Finland shuts border with Russia indefinitely over security concerns
Finland announced on Wednesday that its eastern border with Russia, which it closed in December 2023, will remain closed indefinitely.
The Nordic country shut its 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia after the arrival of around 1,000 migrants without visas.
Helsinki claimed that the surge of migrants was orchestrated by Russia, a charge that the Kremlin has denied.
“Based on information available to the Finnish authorities, the risk that instrumentalised migration will resume and expand, as seen previously, remains likely,” the government said in a statement.
“If the phenomenon were to continue, it would pose a serious threat to Finland’s national security and public order,” it added.
Applications for international protection have been redirected to the country’s other border crossing points, it stated.
In April 2024, the Finnish government decided to close the eastern border
“until further notice,” a decision it has now renewed.
“The government’s decision on the closure of the border has been in force under the same conditions for about a year. This is why it was reasonable to reassess the content of the decision and its preconditions,” the government said.
In March, the government also proposed an extension of a temporary one-year law that allows border guards to turn away asylum seekers under certain circumstances.
Dubbed a “pushback border law” in Finnish media, the law, which entered into force last July, can be applied for one month at a time in limited areas only if Finland’s sovereignty and national security are threatened.
Experts have said that the law contravenes Finland’s international human rights commitments and its constitution, which the government has acknowledged.
The government stated that the decision to keep the border closed and the temporary border security act “have achieved their intended effect, and instrumentalised migration, which began in November 2023, has ceased for now.”
