Finland mulls permanent closure of two temporary checkpoints on the border with Russia
This concerns temporary checkpoints Parikkala and Inari, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported on February 20. Both were temporarily closed several years ago. Traffic at Parikkala was stopped because of the EU sanctions, while Lieksa-Inari’s closure was caused by the cessation of timber imports.
According to the deputy head of department of Finland’s Border Guard, Marco Saareks, the initiative to close the Parikkala and Inari checkpoints came from Russia. “Now the border crossings will be permanently closed on the Russian side,” he added.
“They were established to import raw wood from Russia to Finland for industrial purposes,” Saareks said.
The municipality of Parikkala reportedly wants to keep the border crossing and hopes it’ll reopen for international traffic one day. The city of Lieksa has also not yet approved the final decision to close the Inari crossing.
On January 9, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in an interview with Yle that the border with Russia should remain closed. He believes that this is necessary to ensure that the situation on the border remains calm.
