UPDATE: Finland to close all border crossings with Russia again

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HELSINKI, Dec 14 (PRIME) -- Finland will again close all of its border crossings with Russia from 8.00 p.m. local time on Thursday, the country’s government said in a statement.

The country decided to stop taking in asylum seekers through the border crossings because it thinks that that the foreign authorities or other entities directed the flow of asylum seekers to the country. The Finnish government saw elements of international crime in that, and escalation of illegal immigration threatens public security, the government said.

Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said that no less than 62 asylum seekers entered Finland through the two open border crossings with Russia on Thursday, and some of them came from Somalia and Syria.

In November, Finland decided to close seven out of eight on-land entry points on the border with Russia until December 23 because of an uncontrolled flow of refugees from Syria, India, and Morocco, and closed the last remaining on-land border crossing point temporarily on November 30. The country reopened two of the border crossings earlier on Thursday.

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