Last month, Finland announced it was closing all but one of its border crossings with Russia because it had been seeing a suspicious number of migrants from the Middle East and Africa arriving at the crossings on bicycles. Finland accused Russia of transporting the migrants across their territory as a way to stir up trouble. Here’s what Finland said about the situation at the time.

Illegal immigration at Finland’s eastern border has continued to grow and has also expanded to other border crossings. Based on the observations made by the Border Guard and other authorities and the information received, it is clear that the authorities of a foreign country and other actors play a role in facilitating the arrival of persons who have crossed the border to Finland. The phenomenon is also related to international crime. The phenomenon and the threat of its further expansion pose a serious threat to national security and public order in Finland and elsewhere in the Schengen area. The measures in accordance with the current decision have not stopped the phenomenon in the intended way.

My previous post included images of the migrants being given bikes by Russians so they could ride the last few miles to the border.

There are no Russians trying to cross the border. They're sending people without necessary travel documents from countries like Yemen, Somalia and Syria.

Russia is taking advantage of poor people in the middle of winter, in freezing temperatures. 4/ pic.twitter.com/WMWE08VP8L

— Emil Kastehelmi (@emilkastehelmi) November 19, 2023

That was at the end of November but on Tuesday of this week Finland reversed course, saying it would be reopening part of the border. But the Interior Minister also warned that they would be watching to see if the previous behavior resumed.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen told a news conference on Tuesday that two southeastern crossing points — Imatra and Niirala — would reopen from Thursday until at least January 14. There are eight crossing points for passenger traffic on the Finland-Russia land border and one rail checkpoint for cargo trains.

“The purpose of (Moscow’s) actions is to destabilize our society. We cannot allow this. If the operation continues, the border will be completely closed again,” Rantanen said. “It’s not about the numbers (of migrants) but the phenomenon itself.”

So today is the day that two of the border crossings reopened and I guess that didn’t go very well because before the day was out Finland had announced another reversal. The border would close once again starting tomorrow and continuing for at least a month.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen told a press conference that “entry started faster than expected when the border crossing points in Vaalimaa and Niirala were opened today.” According to a local media report, at least 60 people showed up immediately after Finland opened the two crossings.

“We have found that illegal immigration at Finland’s eastern border has immediately resumed. The phenomenon accelerated faster than thought,” Rantanen said.

Russian officials are of course denying any involvement.

Arthur Parfenchikov, the governor of Karelia, the Russian region bordering Finland, said Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, that “there are groups of migrants among the people wishing to cross the border.”

He said that the Russian authorities checked the passports of the migrants and only found two with non-compliant documents.

“The others are allowed to pass through the checkpoint in small groups,” he added…

The Nordic country had seen nearly 1,000 migrants arrive without a visa through its eastern border crossings since August.

A thousand doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s a pretty small country, about 5.5 million.

I can’t verify these images but supposedly these were taken today. They show more people on bicycles headed for the border.

Finally, here’s a VOA report from earlier Thursday when traffic at the the border crossing was still light. People interviewed about why the migrants are arriving think it’s punishment because Finland joined NATO.