Norway is considering the move as Finland accuses Moscow of exacerbating the migrant crisis
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Norway could close its border crossing with Russia, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has said, according to TV2. The potential move comes amid worsening relations between the Scandinavian states and Russia, with Finland set to close all but one border crossing with its eastern neighbor.
Norway’s Storskog checkpoint is the only one on its roughly 200km border with Russia. Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Store announced that Oslo would close the crossing “if necessary.”
Finland has already said it will close every border crossing with Russia apart from the northernmost Raja-Jooseppi checkpoint. The checkpoints in Kuusamo, Salla, and Vartius will be closed as of midnight Friday, November 24, following the closure of four others last week. This was due to an alleged increase in the number of migrants – mostly from the Middle East and Africa – attempting to cross into Finland from Russia.
Helsinki’s defense minister, Antti Hakkanen, accused Russia of attempting to “accelerate the migrant crisis in Europe and destabilize its unity,” a claim which Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed as “completely baseless.”
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Last week, Norway’s minister of justice, Emilie Enger Mehl, told national news agency NTB that “it may be appropriate for us to close the border at short notice if necessary.” She added that traffic at the Storskog checkpoint has remained low throughout the autumn.
Hundreds of Finnish citizens, many of whom have relatives living in Russia, protested the closing of the checkpoints, according to national outlet Yle. One of protesters was quoted as saying that “we have the right to family ties. It is very cruel to make such a decision before Christmas.”
Finland became NATO’s newest member when it joined the US-led military bloc in April. Its membership was originally set to be decided in a referendum by President Sauli Niinisto. However, the government went ahead with the decision anyway, citing opinion polls.
Zakharova said on Telegram that “when the time came for action, they didn’t ask the public, and did exactly what Washington told them… or did I miss something, and the referendum on Finland joining NATO happened after all?”
