Finland has threatened to close its last border crossing with Russia if Moscow keeps sending asylum seekers across, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has warned.
Finland Threatens To Close Last Border Crossing With Russia Over Flood Of Migrants
Finnish border guards escort migrants at the international border crossing at Salla, northern Finland, on November 23.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has accused Moscow of being behind the unusually large increase in asylum seekers.
A migrant arrives at the Raja-Jooseppi border.
"Intelligence information from different sources tells us that there still are people on the move.... If this continues, more measures will be announced in the near future," Orpo said at a press conference on November 27.
Migrants are accompanied by Finnish border guards as they arrive at the Raja-Jooseppi border station in Lapland on November 27.
According to the Finnish Border Guard, about 900 asylum seekers from countries including Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen crossed into Finland from Russia in November, up from fewer than one per day the month before.
A road sign shows the way to the Raja-Jooseppi border station.
Helsinki accuses Moscow of funneling the migrants to the border in retaliation for its decision to increase defense cooperation with the United States, a charge the Kremlin denies.
Migrants with bicycles are escorted by Finnish border guards near the border crossing at Salla on November 21.
Most of the migrants are young men in their 20s and 30s but some are families with women and children, Border Guard data and photos from news outlets indicate.
Head of the border station Kimmo Louhelainen shows a container with confiscated bicycles used by migrant to cross the border at the Raja-Jooseppi border station.
Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, infuriated Moscow when it joined NATO in April, ending decades of military nonalignment following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Raja-Jooseppi border station. Finland has closed all but one entry point but is still expecting a surge in migrants.
Conditions for migrants crossing over from Russia into Finland can be especially dangerous as temperatures hover between -20 and -6 degrees Celsius, says the Finnish Meteorological Institute. As the winter solstice approaches, the length of the day is a little over two hours.
A fence at the Raja-Jooseppi border station