HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s prime minister on Monday said his country expects more asylum seekers to arrive at its border via Russia and plans to take further measures to stem the flow after closing all but one entry point in recent weeks.
“Intelligence information from different sources tells us that there still are people on the move… If this continues, more measures will be announced in the near future,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a press conference.
Some 900 asylum seekers from nations including Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen have entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from less than one per day previously, according to the Finnish Border Guard.
Finland blames a change in Russian border protocol for the increase, and calls this a hybrid attack. Moscow has denied the charge.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Terje Solsvik)
