HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland will erect barriers at four of its nine border crossings with Russia, which it plans to close this Friday evening at midnight local time (2200 GMT), in the face of an increase in arrivals of asylum seekers. asylum by its eastern border.
“Our goal is to use barriers to prevent entry,” Matti Pitkaniitty, head of international affairs for the Border Guard, told reporters, adding that Finland’s measures were a response to changes in policy. border with Russia, which until now prevented foreign nationals without valid EU passports from crossing the border.
More than 200 asylum seekers arrived in Finland this week.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Finland was making a “big mistake” by choosing the path of confrontation with Russia, according to comments reported by the TASS agency.
On Wednesday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said he suspected Russia of wanting to punish Helsinki because of a proposed military cooperation agreement between Finland and the United States, which Moscow denied.
(Report by Essi Lehto and Anne Kauranen, French version by Kate Entringer, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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