Finland to close four Russian border crossings

Finland will on November 18 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 16.

Finland's president said on November  15 a rise in the number of asylum applicants arriving on the country's eastern border appeared to be Russian revenge for Finland's defence cooperation with the United States, Caliber.Az reports citing Reuters.

Finland, a European Union country whose accession to the NATO alliance earlier this year after decades of non-alignment angered Moscow, shares a 1,340-km (833-mile) border with Russia that also serves as the EU's external border.

The four crossings are all in the south-east of Finland and normally the busiest points of travel between the two countries.

"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 November 17-18," Orpo told a press conference.

This week dozens of asylum seekers from countries such as Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Syria have arrived each day via Russia, Finland's border guards have said, up from fewer than one per day on average earlier in the autumn.