The European border protection agency Frontex plans to send 50 border guards and other staff to Finland to bolster the country's border security after an increase in the number of asylum seekers crossing from Russia.
The influx has already prompted Finland to close all but one of the border crossing points along its 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.
Frontex said in a statement on November 23 that the "significant reinforcement" it plans to send is expected to be on the ground as soon as next week, with the first group of officers to be provided on November 29 to expand an existing mission of 10 officers.
The reinforcements will include border surveillance officers, support for registering migrants, document experts, and interpreters, Frontex said.
The statement emphasizes that events on the Finnish-Russian border affect the security of the entire European Union and says that Frontex's involvement entails "the humanitarian aspect of this scenario," especially in the harsh weather conditions and lack of preparation among the people arriving.
According to Finnish public broadcaster YLE, about 100 people asked for asylum at the Vartius and Salla crossings on November 23. They are citizens of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria, YLE said.
Helsinki has accused Moscow of funneling migrants from a range of countries to the border.
"Finland cannot be influenced, Finland cannot be destabilized," Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in an address to parliament on November 23. "Russia started this, and Russia also can stop it.”
The Kremlin denies the charge.
Finland announced the closure of all but one of the crossing points along its border with Russia from November 24 in a bid to stem the flow of asylum seekers. Orpo said at a news conference on November 22 that the move would leave only the northernmost border crossing open.
According to Finland's border control, that crossing, Raja-Jooseppi, known as Lotta on the Russian side, was calm on November 23, but Finnish authorities are preparing for an onslaught of migrants.
The governor of Russia's Murmansk region, Andrei Chibis, said on Telegram that there was a "congestion of refugees from other countries who want to get to Finland" in the Kandalaksha region.
Chibis said border guards and police "check the documents of foreigners in detail," but did not specify whether foreigners who do not have the right to enter Finland will be allowed to proceed through the checkpoint.
Helsinki claims that in the past the Russian authorities did not allow citizens without the necessary documents to cross but without explanation suspended the practice.
Finnish border guards and soldiers on November 22 began erecting barriers, including concrete obstacles topped with barbed wire, at some crossing points.