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Finland will fully shut its border with Russia for 2 weeks after a surge of asylum seekers crossing the frontier, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo introduced Tuesday.
“That is Russia’s affect exercise, and we don’t settle for that,” Orpo stated at a press convention, in keeping with Finnish information outlet Helsingin Sanomat. The 2-week border closure will take impact between Wednesday and Thursday evening and can finish on December 13, the paper reported.
Helsinki’s transfer follows a resolution by the European border company Frontex final week to deploy border guards and different employees, together with gear, to bolster Finland’s border management actions amid accusations by Finland that Moscow is stoking the migrant inflow. Stress between the 2 international locations has escalated since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompting Finland to hitch the NATO navy alliance.
On Monday, NATO Secretary-Basic Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of utilizing migration as a software to strain Finland. “NATO stands in solidarity with our ally Finland,” he stated.
Late final week, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that Russian embassies have began issuing visas to individuals from the Horn of Africa to enter Russia after which proceed their journey to the Finnish border with the assistance of Moscow’s safety providers.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the claims, with the Russian overseas ministry saying a earlier resolution taken by Finland to shut quite a lot of checkpoints on the border with Russia is “unequivocally” provocative.
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