(Corrects sourcing to border guard, not minister, in 3rd paragraph)
HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland is seeing a rise in the number of third-country asylum seekers arriving at its border crossings from Russia and is preparing to “take action” to handle the situation, the Finnish interior minister said on Tuesday.
“The number has grown significantly in a short time. Russian authorities have changed the way they work to allow travel to Finland despite a lack of documents, which is illegal entry,” Minister of Interior Mari Rantanen told reporters.
Around 60 asylum seekers had arrived from Russia since early on Monday, according to Finland’s border guard authority. This contrasts with a total of 91 people arriving without required documents from Aug. 1 to Nov. 12, according to the authority.
The interior ministry will prepare a proposal that could allow officials to limit border traffic or the closing of some crossing points, Rantanen said.
NATO member Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre (833-mile) border with Russia which also serves as the European Union’s external border.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen and Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)
