Finland is reportedly moving towards completely closing its land border with Russia, according to a European Pravda report citing Finnish media IltaLehti.
The Finnish government, led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, is expected to make a decision on this issue, potentially closing all checkpoints on the land border with Russia by Wednesday night.
This decision follows last Thursday's closure of several border crossing points, including Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra, and Niirala, in response to a surge in illegal migration.
Since Saturday, these have been shut to traffic. Helsinki has also limited the acceptance of asylum applications to the Vartius and Salla border crossings.
The move is seen as a reaction to Russia's alleged use of illegal migrants as weapons, a tactic that the Finnish government aims to counteract by sending a strong message against the use of migration as pressure.
Intelligence reports suggest Russian authorities are involved in transporting illegal asylum seekers to the Finnish border.
In the future, asylum applications will be accepted only at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
The Finnish authorities believe that the right to seek asylum, as guaranteed by international agreements, has become irrelevant at the eastern border due to Russia's actions.
Finland also seeks the right to return illegal asylum seekers to Russia, which has previously accepted them into its territory. However, it's considered unlikely that Russia will accept any individuals back.
This development comes after the Finnish border guards reported an unusually high number of individuals without proper entry documents attempting to enter Finland through checkpoints on the southeastern border in recent months.
Watch Finnish volunteer soldiers fight against Russian forces right here:
