On Tuesday, Finland announced its decision to close its entire border with Russia to travellers for the next two weeks in an effort to contain the huge influx of asylum seekers to the Nordic country, which the government claims is deliberately orchestrated by Moscow.
Finland closed all but one of its border posts to Russian visitors last week, leaving only the northernmost Raja-Jooseppi crossing in the Arctic open. However, the government announced that this crossing would now be closed.
Finland’s Decision
In Tuesday’s press release, Finland’s Interior Ministry said, “The Government has decided to close the border crossing point of Raja-Jooseppi during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, that is, as of 30 November 2023.” As a result of the decision, all land border crossing points between Finland and Russia will be closed until 13 December. “It will not be possible to submit applications for international protection at any border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia,” the statement read.
Section 16 of the Border Guard Act constituted the foundation for the decision. According to this section, if there is a serious threat to public order, national security, or health, the government may choose to close border crossing points for a fixed period or until further notice.
“In the present situation, the Government has concluded that these are very exceptional circumstances as referred to in the statement of the Constitutional Law Committee,” the statement read. “In such very exceptional circumstances, the short-term total closure of the eastern border is necessary and proportionate.”
All border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia will be closed until 13 December.
— Finnish Government (@FinGovernment) November 28, 2023
Prime Minister @PetteriOrpo: "We don’t accept any attempts to undermine our national security."
More 👇https://t.co/KqzKNIG0GE pic.twitter.com/RJom22v6Qn
Despite previous restrictions, entry into Finland at the eastern border has continued, the statement read. According to the government’s and Finnish authorities’ assessments, instrumentalized migration and the risk of its escalation constitute a severe threat to national security and public order.
Per the statement, international protection requests will only be accepted at open border crossing locations for maritime and aviation traffic at Finland’s external borders. “Finnish citizens will also have to use open border crossing points”, it said.
Russia’s ‘Influence Operation’: Finnish PM
“Russia is enabling the instrumentalisation of people and guiding them to the Finnish border in harsh winter conditions. Finland is determined to put an end to this phenomenon,” Finnish PM Petteri Orpo stated. According to Finnish authorities, approximately 900 asylum seekers from Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen have entered Finland from Russia this month.
On Monday, Orpo stated that his country had intelligence on Russian authorities assisting asylum seekers and that despite Finnish border closures, there were still more people in Russia heading towards Finland. Moreover, Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen accused Russia of intentionally directing migrants into the border zone as a form of “hybrid warfare.”
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 28, 2023
Finland announces it is closing all 1300 kilometers of its border with Russia.
It is done to stop Putin’s attempt at weaponizing migration as a tool of hybrid warfare.
Russia has been pushing illegals migrants from Somalia,
Syria and Iraq toward the border for weeks pic.twitter.com/SOh7j5bJDV
Russia’s Response
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned on Tuesday that Finland’s decision to close all border checkpoints with Russia will be detrimental to Finnish citizens, calling the decision “irrational.” “They closed the border, how can we react?” Grushko stated on the sidelines of the Primakov Readings forum in Moscow that “Finnish citizens will suffer.”
“We can comment on some rational decisions, then we can look for some kind of logic. But sometimes the decisions are simply irrational,” Grushko said, pointing out that only about 700 migrants attempted to cross the Russian-Finnish border during this time period.