In the past, Russia has not allowed travelers with incomplete documents to continue to Finnish border crossings, but in recent months Russia’s actions have changed.
Southeast Finland 27 asylum seekers whose documents were not in order had arrived at the border crossings by Monday evening. The command center of the Southeastern Finland Border Guard informs STT about this.
Deputy Commander of the Border Guard Jukka Lukkari previously estimated to STT that the number of people arriving at the border will increase. During the past week, there have been 34 arrivals with incomplete travel documents.
“We estimate that this will continue and increase. I would think that this week more people will arrive overall than last week.”
According to Lukkari, the asylum seekers have included representatives of several nationalities, including Iraqis, Syrians, Turks and Somalis.
In the past, Russia has not allowed travelers with incomplete documents to continue to Finnish border crossings, but in recent months Russia’s actions have changed. The reason is unknown.
Border Guard since August, a larger than usual number of people with incomplete travel documents have arrived at the border crossing points in Southeast Finland.
In autumn 2015, a large number of third-country nationals from Russia arrived in Lapland at the Salla and Raja-Joosepi border crossings, where they applied for asylum. People arrived at the crossings in old passenger cars and bicycles.
Colonel Matti Pitkäniitty The staff of the Border Guard told STT on Sunday that similar elements have been involved in this fall’s border crossings.
Border Guard announced on Monday that border crossings with bicycles are prohibited through the international vehicle traffic border crossings of Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa and Imatra. The ban has been in effect since Thursday.
Helsingin sanomat newspaper said on Sunday the Russian Fontankaonline publication based on information that the border crossing points in Nuijamaa, Vaalimaa and Imatra were closed to Russian bicycle traffic. The Border Guard, on the other hand, told STT that there had been discussions with Russia about the matter.
The decision announced on Monday has been made with a unilateral announcement by the border commissioner of South-Eastern Finland.
“We have informed Russia of our view that this is necessary to control the phenomenon,” says Lukkari.
Parliamentary chairman of the defense committee Jukka Kopra (kok) says he is satisfied that Finnish legislation is up-to-date in situations of instrumented immigration.
He points out that, in practice, the updated border control law gives the possibility to close all crossing points also to those seeking international protection, if Russia were to send asylum seekers to the Finnish border.
“The authorities and the government have closely monitored the situation at the border crossing points. We have made the necessary restrictions, such as the entry of cars registered in Russia into Finland and the banning of bicycle crossings. It’s good to know that there are necessary measures in the toolbox and that there is a readiness for extortion, should the situation demand it”, says Kopra in the press release.
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