On the night of December 14, Finland’s decision to open two checkpoints on the Russian-Finnish border for one month came into force. The Vaalimaa-Torfyanovka and Niirala-Värtsilä checkpoints have opened, the Finnish government reported on social media.
The message states that border crossing points will be open until January 14, 2024. They will accept applications for international protection. “These two checkpoints were opened because they are the most convenient for people who live on both sides of the border and visit their relatives. In addition, these checkpoints are convenient for diplomatic and cargo transportation,” explained Finnish Border Guard representative Mikko Lehmus, as quoted by Kommersant.
The remaining six checkpoints on the Finnish-Russian border will remain closed. There are eight of them in total.
On the eve of the opening of the checkpoint, St. Petersburg carriers have already begun selling tickets for bus routes between Russia and Finland. The first flight has already left for Helsinki from St. Petersburg, writes “DP”.
Let us remind you that the decision to open “Vaalimaa” – “Torfyanovka” and “Niirala” – “Vyartsilya” was made on December 12 due to an improvement in the situation with the influx of migrants at the border.
Earlier, Finnish authorities said that Russian border guards were delivering migrants to the Finnish border to provoke a crisis. As a result, from November 18, Finland closed four checkpoints until February 18, 2024. On November 28, it became known that all checkpoints on the border with Russia would be closed until December 13, allegedly due to the situation with migrants. It was noted that Finland is concerned about the uncontrolled arrival of citizens of third countries – Syria, India, Morocco and others.
Source: Rosbalt
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