OREANDA-NEWS The Finnish authorities, against the background of preparations for the closure of the checkpoint on the border with the Russian Federation, said that the number of refugees in the country is growing and will continue to increase - so, 46 people arrived on Finnish territory overnight, and on Monday there were 34.

Finland's Interior Ministry is preparing legislative proposals to restrict the operation of checkpoints on the border with Russia due to the uncontrolled arrival of refugees from Somalia, Yemen, Syria and other countries, Interior Minister Marie Rantanen said earlier.

According to the border guard of southeastern Finland, the number of persons from third countries, Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen and others who arrived from Russia and requested asylum in Finland on Wednesday night was 46 people, 55 people arrived on Tuesday.

39 people arrived on Monday, 34 people from third countries who requested asylum arrived in Finland from Russia over the previous week, and 110 in total since the beginning of August, it was previously reported.

"There are 46 asylum seekers today. Yesterday, the total figure was 55 people," the border detachment of Southeastern Finland said in a message on the microblogging network X.

It seems that their number is growing and will continue to grow," Jukka Lukkari, Deputy commander of the Border Guard Service of Southeastern Finland, said in a comment to public broadcaster Yle.
Previously, a similar situation was observed in late 2015 and early 2016, when people from third countries, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, arrived on bicycles and old cars at the northern crossing points of the Finnish-Russian border and requested asylum in Finland. In total, more than one thousand people arrived during that period.