According to Finnish border guards, dozens of migrants got stuck on Saturday behind barriers set up at two border crossings that Finland shares with Russia, Reuters reports.

Finland’s government accuses Moscow of sending migrants to the checkpoints in retaliation for its decision to deepen defense cooperation with the United States, which the Kremlin denies.

Finnish border guards installed barriers at the Vaalimaa, Nuyimaa, Imatra and Niirala border crossings in southeastern Finland, which account for most of the traffic between the two countries, from midnight on Friday.

Despite the closure, dozens of migrants arrived at the Nuijamaa and Vaalimaa crossings on Saturday afternoon and lit fires in freezing temperatures behind barbed wire fences.

In Nuyämaa, two people managed to overcome the barrier and get to Finland.

“We are in the process of strengthening the barriers so that something like this is no longer possible,” said Colonel Mika Ritkonen, according to Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

Hundreds of asylum seekers have arrived in Finland this week

Finland shares a 1,340 km long border with Russia, which is also the external border of the European Union. According to the border guards, about 300 asylum seekers arrived in Finland this week, mainly from Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Syria.

Four regular border crossings remain open for now, but asylum seekers can now show up at only two of them, in Sally and Vartius, further north, border police said.

On Saturday, 67 asylum seekers arrived at the Vartius post, the local border police unit said on Twitter. The group of migrants arrived half an hour after the station closed, local media reported. (Source: News.ro)

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