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Around 200 foreigners taken from Finnish border in Murmansk Region to St. Petersburg

According to Governor Andrey Chibis, fifty-five more foreigners will be transported to the Lotta checkpoint, the only border crossing between Russia and Finland

MURMANSK, November 24. /TASS/. Around 200 foreigners who happened to be on Russia’s border with Finland in the Murmansk Region when Finland closed border crossings have been set to St. Petersburg by buses, the region’s governor, Andrey Chibis, said.

"Nearly 200 foreigners, who decided to stay in Russia, were provided with buses to St. Petersburg as the nearest large transportation hub. They have all relevant documents and permits to stay in our country," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to Chibis, fifty-five more foreigners will be transported to the Lotta checkpoint, the only border crossing between Russia and Finland.

On Thursday, fifty-eight people managed to cross into Finland before the complete closure of the Salla checkpoint. "The situation at the Salla checkpoint in the Kandalaksha district has been settled," the governor noted.

Around 300 people has been queueing at the Salla crossing in the Murmansk Region since November 21 after Finland shut down four crossing points on the eastern border with Russia (Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala) on the night of November 17 to 18 due to what it described as the influx of third-country citizens. On November 22, the Finnish government made a decision to close three out of the four remaining crossings on the border with Russia.

Thus, Raya-Jooseppi (Lotta on the Russian side) is the only checkpoint on Finland’s land border with Russia. It’s Finnish part is open only in the first half of the day.

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