Finland is set to shut its entire border with Russia this week, the government said on Tuesday. The border will remain closed until Dec. 13, according to a government statement.
Last week Finland had closed all but one of its border crossings with Russia with the goal of halting an inflow of asylum seekers from the country. The Finnish government has repeatedly suggested that the refugees were guided to the border by Russian authorities.
Close to 1,000 people from countries that are not Finland or Russia have entered Finland since August, and most of them have sought asylum in Finland, the government said Tuesday.
"Russia has been not only letting through migrants or third country citizens without valid documentation, over the border toward Finland, but also they have been mobilizing people to access Finland and the European Union through that route," Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Elina Valtonen told CNBC's Silvia Amaro on Tuesday.
Russia's approach was a "hybrid operation" she said, adding that Finland had "responded accordingly" as a signal that the government "can't accept this phenomenon to take place."
Meanwhile, southern Ukraine and Russia continue to be battered by bad weather, with huge winter storms causing widespread power cuts, losses of water supplies, mass flooding, traffic chaos and destruction. Heavy fighting carries on along the front line in Ukraine, nonetheless.
There have been a number of deaths and injuries as a result of a surge in severe weather in recent days, with snowstorms and high winds hitting southern regions of Ukraine particularly hard, as well as Russian-occupied Crimea and southern Russia — especially its Black Sea coastal area.