Finland to close four Russia border crossings to stop asylum seekers

Finland will on Saturday 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 Thursday, Report informs via Reuters.

Finland's president said on Wednesday that a rise in the number of asylum applicants arriving on the country's eastern border appeared to be Russian revenge for Finland's defense cooperation with the United States.

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 border with Russia that also serves as the EU's external border.

The four crossings are all in the southeast of Finland and are 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 Friday and Saturday," Orpo told a press conference.