92 asylum seekers arrive on last day as Finland closes 3 borders with Russia

Finland closed three more border crossing points- Kuusamo, Salla and Vartius- at the eastern border early Friday night.

With closures of these three, the border crossing with Russia will remain open only at the Raja-Jooseppi border crossing point.

Meanwhile, a total of 92 asylum seekers arrived in Finland from Russia through Salla and Vartius on Thursday, on the last day before closing the border crossing points at the midnight.

At the Salla border crossing, the people arrived in three different groups. They are the citizens of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Syria, said the Finnish Border Guard.

“Today (Thursday) 58 asylum seekers arrived to Salla Border Crossing Point in Lapland and 34 to Vartius Border Crossing Point in Kainuu,” Matti Pitkäniitty, Head of International Affairs Unit of Finnish Border Guard wrote in a post in social media platform X late Thursday night, adding that these borders would be closed at midnight.

Arrived at the Salla border crossing today, Thursday 23.11. a total of 58 asylum seekers. The people arrived in three different groups. The people were from Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.

​The government on Wednesday decided to close three more border crossing points- Kuusamo, Salla and Vartius- at the eastern border from Friday against the backdrop of increasing number of asylum seekers from Russia.

Earlier on November 18, Finland closed four border crossing points- at Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala at eastern border.

The government on November 16, decided to close part of Finland's eastern border with Russia.

The government on November 15 at a meeting decided that measures to ensure border security following the rapid increase in illegal entry at the eastern border will be taken on Thursday.

Earlier on November 14, the Ministry of the Interior said, the government may decide to restrict cross-border traffic or to close border crossing points at eastern border with Russia against the backdrop of the influx of increasing number of asylum seekers.