HELSINKI, July 21. /TASS/. Finland’s land troops and border forces are conducting drills involving aircraft in territories near the border with Russia, having closed the motor road leading to the Vaalimaa crossing (Torfyanovka, Leningrad Region) until early August, the land forces’ command said in press statement.

The South 2/24 drills kicked off on July 21 and will involve about 1,700 troops and some 300 vehicles.

The Vaalimaa border crossing, the closest one to St. Petersburg, was opened in 1958 as the first checkpoint on the border between Finland and the former Soviet Union. It was the busiest crossing on the land border of the entire European Union. All motor transport crossings on the border with Russia were closed by the Finnish government in later November 2023 until further notice.