Finland does not rule out reopening border with Russia

HELSINKI. Nov 13 (Interfax) - Finland does not rule out reopening the border with Russia, the Yle television and radio broadcaster website said on Thursday.

"Prime Minister Petteri Orpo hinted at opening a checkpoint on the eastern border in an interview with the Yle radio. Orpo said that the border reopening depends on Russia allowing people without proper travel documents to go to Finland," it said.

Jussi Napola, head of the Border Guard and Preparedness Unit at the Finnish Border Guard Headquarters, told the broadcaster that the border should reopen in a controllable manner, with due account of the need for crossing the border in various sections.

He also said that transborder traffic would be limited, at least at the initial stage. "Before the border closed, transborder traffic stood at approximately 18% of the pre-coronavirus volumes. It will be smaller now," Napola said.

The reason is that Finland and the EU have a long list of restrictions on Russian goods and passenger traffic, he said.

Not all checkpoints will open on Finland's eastern border, at least at the initial stage, because of the absence of traffic. Transborder traffic will also be contained by the fact that very few Russians have valid Finnish visas. Finland does not issue tourist visas to Russian citizens.

"There has to be a need for crossing the border. We are evaluating traffic volumes and are considering how many border checkpoints we would open and what their working hours will be," Napola said.

The Finnish authorities repeatedly closed all eight passenger checkpoints on the eastern border since 2023 under the pretext of the alleged organized admission of numerous migrants from third countries to the Finnish border by Russia. Finland views this as Russia's "hybrid attacks" and a security threat. The Finnish government said in April 2024 that it would keep the border with Russia closed until further notice.