Finland Terminates Bilateral Border Cooperation Agreement with Russia
The State Council of Finland has approved the termination of the agreement with Russia on border cooperation, following Moscow's announcement of the same last month. The border cooperation agreement between Finland and Russia, in effect since 2012, is set to expire in January 2024, as stated in the Finnish government's announcement.
In October, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Finland's ambassador, Antti Helanterä, to inform him of the intention to terminate the border cooperation agreement. According to the note, the agreement will cease on January 24, 2024. To complete the termination procedure, the Finnish government revoked the resolution establishing the validity of the bilateral agreement with the Russian Federation.
The border cooperation agreement, established on April 13, 2012, encompassed measures for cultural cooperation, environmental improvement, social welfare for residents of border regions, business and infrastructure development in the border areas of Finland and Russia, and more. With the termination, all projects initiated under the agreement, involving investments of tens of millions of euros, are to be gradually discontinued.
It is worth noting that since mid-November, there has been a significant increase in the number of individuals without proper documents for entry into the EU territory at border crossing points between Russia and Finland. To counteract this phenomenon, Finland started closing its border crossing points with Russia, suspending the movement of vehicles through the Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra, and Niirala border points since last Saturday.
On November 28, the Finnish government decided to temporarily suspend operations at the last remaining border crossing point with Russia, which had remained open for the next two weeks.
The Prime Minister of Finland emphasized that Russia's attempt to influence Finland's internal affairs was the reason for such a decision, which Helsinki considers unacceptable. He pointed out that the decision is not based on specific figures of asylum requests but on an overall assessment of the situation.
Henceforth, applications for asylum in Finland from individuals arriving from Russia will only be accepted at ports and airports. Importantly, this decision will not impact freight rail transport between Russia and Finland.