Finland locks itself down, closing the entire border with Russia

2023-11-20 13:02:30

Finland will close, on the night between 21 and 22 November, the remaining four border crossings with Russia and therefore the entire border between the two countries. The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti writes this, citing its sources, according to which the decision was taken after the Russian authorities allegedly pushed numerous migrants towards the border. In total, Finland has nine border crossings with Russia, five of which have already been closed.

The Kremlin expressed ”deep regret” for Helsinki’s decision. “This causes nothing but deep regret, because with Finland we have had long-standing and very good relations, pragmatic and based on mutual respect,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a briefing. ”Of course, we regret that these reports have been replaced by an exclusively Russophobic position. Unfortunately, this is the situation,” he added.

At the moment, he continued, there is ”no dialogue” between Moscow and Helsinki and ”it is not our fault”, so ”it is unlikely that we can influence the situation now”. ”We were not the ones who brought about a reduction in dialogue,” Peskov said.