Raja-Jooseppi border resumes after forest fire

The northernmost Finnish-Russian border crossing in Raja-Jooseppi reopened on Sunday morning after it was closed on Friday when forest fires on the Russian side had cut the road leading to the crossing from the east.

On Friday evening Finnish firefighters moved across the border to the Russian side to protect the actual buildings of the crossing there known as Lotta. The Finnish equipment and personnel returned to Finland early on Sunday, a Finnish language newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported.

While cross-border operations are commonplace in the North between Finland, Sweden and Norway, entry of Finnish units into Russia is very rare.

There are only nine border crossings on the 1,340-km-long land border between Finland and Russia. The three crossings in the far north are far apart from each other.

The Finnish Raja-Jooseppi and the Russian Lotta serve the highway connection between Murmansk, Russia, and the city of Rovaniemi in Finland.

Ari Soppela, spokesman for the Lapland rescue services, told local media that high preparedness continues to be maintained as long as fires continue on the Russian side. More soldiers and helicopters are to be deployed on Sunday.