Two temporary border crossing points in Parikkala and Lieksa have been closed for good, the Border Guard announced on Thursday.
These temporary border points in southeast Finland have not been used for several years. Traffic was halted at the Inari post in the municipality of Lieksa in November 2021 and at Parikkala in April 2022, due to restrictions on exports of wood to Russia.
"The decision does not change the prevailing situation in any way and does not affect local residents," said Samuli Murtonen, deputy commander of the North Karelia Border Guard.
Parikkala is in South Karelia, while the Inari station is some 250 km further away in North Karelia – not in the municipality of the same name in Finnish Lapland, where the Raja-Jooseppi border crossing point is located.
Finnish and Russian border guard officials agreed to close the temporary border crossing points earlier this month.
As a result of the decision, the Finnish government must amend the regulation on border crossing points to remove references to the Parikkala and Lieksa border posts.
The Border Guard districts of Southeast Finland and North Karelia have begun practical measures to implement the decision, including the removal of signs.
Following months of suspected instrumentalised migration by Russia, the Finnish government decided last spring to close all crossing points along on the eastern border indefinitely. Officials said that Russian authorities had been funnelling undocumented third-country asylum seekers across the border as a hybrid pressure tactic.
The Border Guard is investigating the suspected organisation of illegal migration.