No lines at Karelia's Vyartsilya crossing on Russian-Finnish border - region's head

PETROZAVODSK. Dec 14 (Interfax) - The Vyartsilya crossing on the Russian-Finnish border in Russia's republic of Karelia is functioning as usual, Karelia's head Artur Parfenchikov said.

"There are no lines or crowds," Parfenchikov said on his Telegram channel.

There are also groups of migrants among those wishing to cross the border, he said.

"Our law enforcement agencies are checking their documents. If violations are found in any of these people's passports after the check, these people will be taken to police stations. There are two such persons so far. The others are being let through the border crossing in small groups," Parfenchikov said.

Foreign citizens are let through the Vyartsilya checkpoint both ways, head of Karelia's Sortavala district administration Sergei Krupin said.

"Forty Somalians have crossed the border, and the total number of foreigners wishing to leave the Russian territory exceeds 200. Everything is normal," Krupin said on the district's VK account.

A large number of Finnish citizens has been visiting Sortavala since 9 a.m. on Thursday, as the border reopened, he said.

"The Finnish citizens made online appointments with doctors, and dental services are especially popular. There is a small concentration of Finnish citizens at hairdressers. People with dual citizenship came to Russia to get their pensions. They will be able to congratulate family members residing in Russia on the approaching Christmas and New Year. There is enough gasoline at gas stations and food at stores, and no deficit is expected," Krupin said.

As reported, Finland lifted restrictions on the operations of the Vaalimaa border crossing (the Torfyanovka border crossing of Russia's Vyborg customs service) and the Niirala border crossing (the Karelia customs service's Vyartsilya crossing) and reopened them to passenger and cargo traffic overnight into Thursday.

According to open sources, Vyartsilya is a multilateral motor and rail checkpoint at the Russian-Finnish border in the Sortavala district of Karelia. It is located in Vyartsilya, 65 kilometers from Sortavala and 256 kilometers west of Petrozavodsk.