The Finnish government confirms this at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. – No form of border crossing is possible at these border stations, says the Finnish Minister of the Interior, Mari Rantanen. – It is not about asylum or immigration policy. This is a question of national security. Abandoned bicycles and an electric scooter at the border crossing at Salla in Finland. Photo: Jussi Nukari / AP The closure of the Raja-Jooseppi border crossing comes into effect on the night of Thursday, and will last for two weeks until 13 December. Rantanen says that the purpose is to put an end to the flow of undocumented asylum seekers from the Russian side of the border, and that the restrictions can be eased once they have succeeded. – At the same time, we are prepared that the phenomenon will continue and even become larger. Still open for goods transport Just over a week ago, it became known that all but one border crossing would be closed. This now applies to all border crossings between the two countries. They will still be open for shipping goods, but asylum applications will only be received at Finnish airports and ports. The prime minister gave the reason at the press conference that Russia sends undocumented asylum seekers to the Finnish side of the border on purpose. Orpo says that the measures being introduced this week “would not be necessary if Russia had not changed its approach” to border traffic. Photo: LEHTIKUVA / Reuters – It is about Russia’s influencing activities, and we do not accept them, he said. The government in Finland already tried last week to close the entire eastern border, writes Helsingin Sanomat. It was not done, because the Minister of Justice believed that such a decision could be illegal for the government to implement, according to the newspaper. Not far from Storskog Finland has a total of nine border crossings with Russia, and also has the longest land border. As the crow flies, Raja-Jooseppi is 150 kilometers away from the Norwegian-Russian border crossing at Storskog in Sør-Varanger. Between Murmansk and Raja Jooseppi there is a side road north to the Russian town of Nikel, which is only a few tens of kilometers from Storskog. But so far the pressure has not increased at the Norwegian border. The border station at Storskog in August this year. Photo: Kristin Humstad – There has been no change in the traffic over Storskog since the last update from the chief of staff here in Finnmark, says operations manager Einride Hals in the Finnmark police district. When the first border crossings between Finland and Russia closed, Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl said that Norway was ready to close the crossing at Storskog at short notice. Sweden fears more boat refugees The Swedish defense forces fear that boat refugees may come from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad as part of Russia’s attempts to destabilize the region, reports SVT. In a new report, it is pointed to as one of several scenarios together with computer attacks and sabotage actions underwater. – It may not be the most likely scenario, but it is undeniably a possible scenario. That’s what Michael Claesson, chief of the Swedish defense staff, says.
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