Finland's eastern border will open on Thursday at the Vaalimaa and Niirala checkpoints, as announced earlier this week by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP).
In Vaalimaa, in the southeast of the country, traffic can cross the border starting midnight on Wednesday, while in Niirala, in North Karelia, the checkpoint will open at 8am Thursday morning.
According to Professor Jussi P. Laine of the University of Eastern Finland, opening the eastern border completely would have made it more difficult to control the situation.
"We know that there are people on the other side of the border who would like to enter Finland. We can control the situation more effectively by concentrating resources on the two border checkpoints," says Laine.
All other checkpoints are closed as of now, however, if the border traffic returns to its former volume more may open.
"If the situation is calm and there are no issues, then other border checkpoints can and [should] be opened on a faster schedule."
To help the Finnish Border Guard, support from the EU's border agency, Frontex, arrived at the end of November. Retired border guards have also been called in to help with expected queues.
The decision to open the checkpoints is valid until 14 January. The government is also ready to act quickly if suspicions arise again that Russia is instrumentalising migrant movements to put pressure on Finnish authorities.
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