The Border Guard has agreed with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, to continue targeted EU support along Finland’s eastern border.
Frontex's two-month support period was originally scheduled to end on Wednesday 24 January. The agency has been assisting the Border Guard with personnel and equipment.
Frontex has posted 50 border guards and other employees in Finland to help monitor the eastern border since late November. Of these, about a third will remain here at least until next summer.
Support will now be targeted at the Border Guard units based in Southeast Finland, North Karelia and Kainuu. It also includes technical equipment and document experts, who are working on the eastern border and at Helsinki Airport.
The Border Guard says that it is prepared to quickly increase the amount of personnel and equipment support with Frontex if unauthorised border crossings rise significantly.
On 11 January, the government decided to extend the closure of the border crossings between Finland and Russia until at least 11 February because Russia continued to organise 'instrumentalised immigration' to the Finnish border.
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