HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland will close four of the nine crossing points on its border with Russia to stem a flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Thursday.
The Finnish president on Wednesday said a rise in the number of asylum applicants arriving on the country’s eastern border appeared to be triggered by Russian revenge for Finland’s defence cooperation with the United States.
“The government has today decided that Finland will close some eastern border crossing points. The eastern border for that part will close on the night between Friday and Saturday,” Orpo told a press conference.
(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)
