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Finland to keep checkpoints on border with Russia closed through February — newspaper

According to the source, "there is no reason to think that the situation will change drastically in less than a month"

HELSINKI, January 16. /TASS/. Finland does not plan to open its checkpoints on the border with Russia in February, the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper said, citing its sources.

"We will see to it that we don’t have to open the border even for a short period," the source in the government was quoted as saying.

Another source told the newspaper that "there is no reason to think that the situation will change drastically in less than a month."

The STT agency said in mid-December 2023 that the Finnish interior ministry was working on amending the law so it can deny asylum to refugees who file applications on the state border.

Finland closed all of its motorway crossings on the border with Russia in late November. Two crossings were opened on December 12, 2023 only to be closed again on December 14 until February 11, 2024 as the influx of migrants from third countries resumed.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier that Finland’s move to close the border crossings was creating new dividing lines in Europe and Moscow would respond to these actions after interagency consultations.

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Finland Border control

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