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Finland to close all checkpoints along border with Russia Friday — interior minister

"We have been able to state that illegal immigration on Finland's eastern border has continued," Mari Rantanen said

© Alexander Demyanchuk/TASS

STOCKHOLM, December 14. /TASS/. Finland has decided to once again close all crossing points along the border with Russia, Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen said.

"The border will be closed from tomorrow, Friday, December 15, 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT), and [the closing procedure] will be completed on January 14. <...> We have been able to state that illegal immigration on Finland's eastern border has continued," Rantanen said during a parliamentary question-and-answer meeting, broadcast on the Finnish Cabinet’s website.

"The Government has decided that since such entries into the country continue, it is necessary to adopt a government decree to close the Vaalimaa and Niirala checkpoints again," the Finnish Ministry of the Interior said in a statement. So, applications for international protection at Finland's external borders will only be accepted by border checkpoints at airports and seaports, it explained

Overnight to Thursday, the cabinet’s press service said that Finland had reopened the Vaalimaa and Niirala crossings on its border with Russia for a month at 1:00 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday (10:00 p.m. GMT on Wednesday), the Finnish government said.

Colonel Mikko Lehmus from the Finnish Border Guard told a press briefing on December 12 that Helsinki had decided to reopen the two border crossings as they are most useful for people with families on both sides of the border as well as for diplomatic services and cargo transportation operations.

On Thursday, at least 62 asylum seekers crossed into Finland through the two operating checkpoints.

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