Finnish Border Guard vehicles at Raja-Jooseppi station in Inari, Finland, November 28 (Photo: Reuters).
Last week, Finland largely closed its border with Russia, leaving just one crossing open, the remote Raja-Jooseppi station in the Arctic. But that crossing will also be closed from November 29 to December 13, Helsinki said.
According to the Finnish Border Guard, around 900 asylum seekers from Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen entered Finland from Russia in November, a sharp increase from the previous level of less than one person per day.
The Finnish Border Guard said the decision to close all eight border crossings with Russia means only goods will be allowed to pass between the two countries.
Helsinki accuses Moscow of pushing people to their shared border in retaliation for Finland's increased defense cooperation with the United States. The Kremlin denies the accusation.
Finland joined NATO earlier this year after fighting broke out in Ukraine, ending decades of military non-alignment.
On November 27, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo confirmed that Finland had intelligence information about the Russian government supporting asylum seekers and that despite the Finnish border being closed, many people staying in Russia were still moving towards Finland.
On the same day, only 3 asylum seekers arrived in Finland via the Raja-Jooseppi station. By November 28, this number was zero.
Finland's anti-discrimination ombudsman said last week that the remote location of the Raja-Jooseppi crossing raised concerns that Helsinki was undermining asylum rights.
The Finnish government said on November 28 that boat and air passengers could still apply for asylum.
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