Finland Closes Two Checkpoints On Border With Russia

For an indefinite period.

Finland has announced the complete closure of two border checkpoints on the border with Russia: Lieksa-Inari and Parikkala. Border crossings through them are blocked for an indefinite period by decision of the “relevant border services”, according to an official statement from the republic's border service.

In fact, traffic through the Parikkala checkpoint was stopped on April 19, 2022, due to restrictions on the export of Russian timber, and the Lieksa-Inari checkpoint ceased operations on November 1, 2021. Representatives of the border agency do not rule out the possibility of resuming the activities of these points in the future in accordance with the agreement between the Russian Federation and Finland “On border crossings”.

The border services of both countries will begin dismantling the signs with the names of the checkpoints and will take other “necessary practical measures” to implement the decision to close. In November 2023, the Finnish government decided to close four border crossings with Russia: the Vaalimaa checkpoint (Torfyanovka on the Russian side), Nuijamaa (Brusnichnoe), Imatra (Svetogorsk) and Niirala (Vyartsilya) checkpoints. This decision was due to the increase in the number of illegal migrants arriving on Finnish territory from Russia. Between September and November 2023, 280 migrants from Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Syria and other countries ended up on the border with Finland, all of whom applied for asylum. Previously, Russian border guards did not allow people without the necessary documents to the Finnish border, but they stopped doing so last autumn. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö linked the changes to the agreement on defense cooperation between Helsinki and Washington. He also stressed the need to prepare for possible “nasty things” from Russia after Finland joins NATO.

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