Finland preparing to completely close its border with Russia - media

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It is noted that the government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo may decide on Monday that all checkpoints on the land border with Russia will be closed on Wednesday night.

At the same time, Finland has decided that asylum applications will be accepted only at the Vartius and Salla border crossings.

Earlier, Helsinki warned that Russians could be transporting illegal asylum seekers to Kostomuksha, near the Vartius border crossing. Later it became known that this had indeed happened.

In this case, the Finnish government decided to prepare the possibility of closing the entire eastern border so that Finland would send a strong message to Russia that it will not accept the use of migration as a means of pressure.

According to available intelligence, the government has assessed that Russian authorities are involved in the transportation of illegal asylum seekers to the Finnish border.

In the future, asylum applications can be submitted at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.

According to the newspaper, the Finnish authorities have concluded that the right to apply for asylum guaranteed by international agreements has lost its relevance on the eastern border due to the actions of the Russian Federation.

Finland should have the right to return illegal asylum seekers to Russia, which has accepted them on its territory and most of whom had a residence permit in Russia.

However, the Finnish government considers it unlikely that Russia will take even one person back.

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