Finnish government confirms its intention to keep border with Russia closed

Sari Essayah, Finland's Minister of Agriculture, confirmed on 10 January that the country's government plans to keep its border with Russia closed.

Source: Essayah during a programme on Finnish public broadcaster Yle, as reported by European Pravda

Details: When asked to comment on media reports that Helsinki does not plan to open border crossings with Russia, Essayah said, "I can confirm the information that was published". 

Local media noted that the Finnish government is basing its decision to close the border on information received from the authorities, which stated that Russia's activities have stayed the same since the closure of the eastern border.

Background: Finland closed the last checkpoint on the border with Russia on 30 November as Russia began to facilitate the arrival of asylum seekers at the Finnish border.

On 14 December, the Finnish government decided to reopen two border crossings on the eastern border. However, over 100 asylum seekers arrived from Russia on the first day, after which the authorities closed the eastern border for another month.

The Finnish prime minister said that Helsinki will have to find a permanent solution to the situation.

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