Russian-speaking residents of Finland have filed an appeal due to the closure of borders

Russian-speaking residents of Finland have filed a new appeal against the authorities' decision to close the border with Russia. This was announced on May 13 by the deputy of the City Council of Lappeenranta Ivan Devyatkin.

"We are confidently moving forward! Today (May 13. We have filed a new appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland against the decision of the State Council <...> on the closure of the border," he wrote on Facebook (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).

He stressed that the Russian-speaking residents of Finland are recognized as a national minority in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to him, this indicates that the closure of the border has a disproportionate impact on such citizens.

Devyatkin noted that Russian-speaking residents of Finland would not allow a precedent to be set in which the absence of an appeal would be interpreted as a tacit agreement with a violation of rights.

Northern veto: Finland discusses banning Russians from buying apartments

Who may be affected by the new restrictions and how does this affect the dialogue between Moscow and Helsinki

On April 16, the Finnish government decided to keep the border with Russia closed until further notice. It was clarified that the decree on the indefinite extension of the border closure has been in effect for about a year, while the new document replaced a similar decision dated April 4, 2024.

On April 11, the Finnish parliament approved a bill banning Russian real estate transactions. The Russian Embassy told Izvestia that the ban on buying real estate in Finland may affect about 20 thousand Russian citizens living in the country.