Authorities in Finland have announced that traffic at Parikkala will be temporarily stopped until further notice.
The decision comes after border commissioners of the South-East Finland region, and the Vyborg region agreed to introduce such new changes.
“There have been timber transports through the Parikkala temporary border crossing point. However, due to the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia, traffic at the Parikkala temporary border crossing has practically ceased almost completely during the past week,” the statement published by the country’s authorities reads.
The temporary suspension of traffic at Parikkala is based on Article 6 of the Agreement of March 11, 1994, between the Republic of Finland and the Government of the Russian Federation on the crossing of the border between both countries.
In order to tighten controls at their borders, authorities in Finland earlier this month announced that they decided to make additional investments in border control.
“In its negotiations on the Fiscal Plan on April 5, 2022, the government has decided to make additional investments in border control,” the statement of the Finnish Ministry of Interior reads.
Besides, Finland’s train operator VR also announced that it temporarily suspended its services to and from Russia as part of sanctions imposed on Russia by European Union countries’ authorities.
Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland, following the example of other European countries, has expressed its support for Ukraine’s citizens.
Over 3,000 citizens of Ukraine have sought international protection in Finland since February 24. At the same time, authorities in Finland stressed that more than 600 Ukrainians applied for asylum.
In order to help Ukrainian citizens who are fleeing the war due to Russia’s invasion, the EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive, which aims to help refugees to stay for at least one year in an EU country and also have access to the labor market as well as education.
