Finland closes its 1,340-kilometer-long border with Russia in mid-December due to a rapid increase in migration. Helsinki accuses Moscow of deliberately smuggling people to the border in order to trigger a migration crisis in Finland.
Russia denies the allegations. Finland joined NATO in April 2023. The northern European country applied for accession as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine that began in February 2022. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin said at the end of last year that Finland and Russia had previously had "no disputes"