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Finland will indefinitely prolong the closure of land border crossings with Russia and add a number of ports to an inventory the place journey from its japanese neighbour is prohibited, the federal government stated on Thursday.
Finland shut its land borders with Russia late final yr amid a rising variety of arrivals from international locations together with Syria and Somalia. It has accused Moscow of weaponising migration towards the Nordic nation, an assertion the Kremlin denies.
“Finnish authorities see this as a long-term situation. We have not seen anything this spring that would lead us to conclude that the situation has changed meaningfully,” Interior Minister Mari Rantanen stated in an announcement.
The authorities had stated in February that the border closure was set to final till April 14.
Finland aggravated Russia final yr by abandoning its long-held stance of military non-alignment and joining the NATO alliance in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Nordic nation has additionally signed a bilateral defence pact with the United States.
Despite the border closure, a couple of asylum seekers have continued to reach from Russia and the federal government believes the numbers might rise considerably with the appearance of spring and an increase in temperatures.
“There are hundreds and possibly thousands of people close to Finland’s border on the Russian side that could be instrumentalised against Finland,” Rantanen stated.
By “instrumentalised”, he was referring to the alleged steering of migrants to the frontier by Moscow to lift strain on Finland and the broader European Union over their political and army help for Ukraine.
Last month, the Finnish authorities floated plans for short-term laws that might permit border authorities to
block asylum seekers searching for to enter from Russia.
The authorities stated it had determined to shut three ports to leisure boating – on the Baltic Sea islands of Santio and Haapasaari, in addition to at Nuijamaa on the banks of an inland lake shared by the 2 international locations – to forestall “instrumentalised” migration from spreading as spring units in.
“This would be dangerous to people seeking to enter Finland and would burden maritime search and rescue (operations),” the ministry stated in an announcement.
The Finnish border authority has stated that over 1,300 asylum seekers from nations together with Yemen, Somalia and Syria entered from Russia between August and December final yr. Prior to this era, the numbers had averaged only one individual a day.
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