Citizens of third countries use the Russian-Finnish border to enter Europe

RIGA - Third-country nationals recently have been using the Russian-Finnish border to enter the European Union (EU), said State Border Guard chief Guntis Pujats in an interview with commercial TV3 television today.

He said that this migration route for third-country nationals has become particularly popular after Latvia closed its border checkpoints with Russia.

Pujats explained that the number of third-country nationals arriving at the Russian-Finnish border checkpoints is increasing, as they have the right to stay in Russia but no right to stay in the EU.

"It looks like a new route is emerging, and when they arrive already at the border crossing point in Finland, they are requesting asylum, abusing the asylum procedure. It looks like this could be another way to enter Europe illegally," said Pujats.

Asked how to combat this, Pujāts said that he had already discussed possible solutions with the Finnish border guard chief, one of which could be to close the border crossing point, as Latvia has already done.