Finland puts a padlock on the border: its northern neighbors have closed themselves off from the Russians

On the night from Friday to Saturday, Finland immediately closes 4 ground checkpoints on the Russian-Finnish border. The formal reason is a citizen of Somalia, who the day before tried to cross the European Union border from the Russian side on a bicycle through one of these border crossings. Immediately after the detention of the “Somali cyclist,” who had already become a meme on the RuNet, the country of Suomi announced its intention to put a lock on its borders with the Russian Federation, and surprisingly quickly moved from words to deeds.

We learned about the mood and prospects of those who constantly used the Russian-Finnish land crossing.

Let us recall that the duty officer at the Finnish checkpoint reported on Wednesday about a Somali cyclist trying to “enter the territory of the European Union from the St. Petersburg region.” He also detained a Somali citizen who had no reason to cross the EU border. What an African expected on a two-wheeled vehicle and without Schengen, history is silent. But Finnish border guards claim that they saw a dark-skinned cyclist being taken out of a car with Russian license plates not far from the border. And this is already a good reason for the Finnish Ministry of Internal Affairs to prepare “a proposal to the government to close border crossing points with Russia due to too many asylum seekers, including migrants from the Middle East, using the Russian Federation as transit” (as it sounded in the Finnish press) .

“According to the current EU standards, this is impossible,” says international lawyer Stanislav Belenikin. – In order for such an “iron curtain” to become legitimate, the EU must first change legislation. By the way, even before the Somali cyclist, there were reports from the same checkpoint that “the Russians tried to enter the territory of the European Union in a car with Armenian license plates.” Let me emphasize that these were official reports in the Finnish press. Although even a child in this situation will have questions. Did these “Russians” also have Armenian passports? If so, then why did the Finnish border guards decide that they were Russians? And if these are really Russians with Russian passports and Schengen, why did they “try to get in” using the numbers?! Or do drivers and passengers of cars with Armenian license plates at the Finnish border not even look at their documents?

Many experts on the international situation, not only in Russia, but also within the EU, are today confident that Finland was “looking for a reason to close itself,” and at the same time close its neighbors, through whom, quoting the Finnish media, “Russians are also penetrating the EU.” Be that as it may, from Saturday November 18, the checkpoints of Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala will stop working, the Prime Minister of the country Petteri Orpo has already officially notified this. According to him, preliminary restrictions will be in force until February 18, 2024. Life and “the activity of migrants on the Russian side” will show what happens next.

At the same time, Estonia, through the head of its border service, Veiko Kommusaar, stated that it “allows the partial or complete closure of the checkpoint on the border with Russia.” And Norway, represented by its Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl, announced that “it can close the border with the Russian Federation as soon as possible if circumstances require it.” Pravda added that the kind of activity that the Finns describe is not observed at the Russian-Norwegian land border crossing at Storskog.

“We don’t have any cyclists or Middle Eastern illegals here at all,” says a border officer from the Norwegian side. – It’s very cold.

Meanwhile, bus carriers on both sides are reporting the cancellation of flights from St. Petersburg to Helsinki and back.

“Our last bus will leave on Saturday, November 17 at 14.00,” one of the three largest carriers in this direction responds. – But for now, tickets can still be exchanged for our Peter-Tallinn bus.

The other two “giants” of bus tours to the Baltics and Scandinavia are canceling flights in silence, without commenting on the situation in any way. Although tickets for some destinations are still posted on their websites.

“We’ll answer every day,” they answer on the phone. – If the bus does not go on route, your money will be returned. But this does not depend on us. We don’t remove it from sale in the hope that something will suddenly change for the better for us.

The Finns themselves are already anticipating how Russians who were planning a New Year’s trip to Finland by bus will instead flood the country’s airports.

“Border countries, there are so many connections, mixed families that they will still go back and forth,” Johan, a resident of St. Petersburg, the bulk of whose family permanently resides in Helsinki, shrugs. – The air harbors will be overloaded and that’s it.

Meanwhile, resourceful St. Petersburg residents have almost figured out how to get to Finland without an airplane; the detour is actually 900 km.

“But with today’s complicated logistics, it’s not a detour at all,” shares Anatoly from Vyborg. – You can equip minibuses to Vartius (aka Lyttya, a checkpoint currently operating on the Russian-Finnish border 900 km from St. Petersburg).

As for the Finns themselves, as one of them shared in confidence, they had their eye on the Ivangorod-Narva point on the Russian-Estonian border for the rally. According to information from the Finnish side, it will not be closed for sure until January 31 due to already confirmed New Year’s logistics. But from February 1, this checkpoint will be closed for reconstruction.

“Then Storskugna will remain on the Norwegian border,” believes 56-year-old Anastasia, who has a daughter and two grandchildren in Finland. – It’s such a long and tedious route from Murmansk that I hope it will never be closed. Almost no one gets there anyway.