It was as late as late November that all of Finland’s border crossings with Russia were closed, following what was described as a hybrid attack.
Several hundred asylum seekers had made it to the crossings for a few weeks – many of them by bicycle. The Finnish authorities that the Russian regime was behind, in an attempt to overwhelm NATO’s external border, and decided, citing threats to the country’s security, to close the border posts until at least December 13.
The closure has had major consequences for the population in, among other places, Villmanstrand. There, just 25 kilometers from the border, is Finland’s largest Russian-speaking minority.
In the past, there was a lively economic and cultural exchange across the border, a social life that has now been completely stifled. The two stations that are now reopening are Vaalimaa in the far south, and Niirala a little further north.