NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said Moscow has been directly involved in the appearance of an increasing number of asylum seekers at the Finnish border.

Stoltenberg stated before the meeting of the North Atlantic Council that Russia has "brought war back to Europe" and is now trying to destabilise western democratic countries with the help of cyber attacks, disinformation, energy blackmail and migration.

"In recent weeks, Moscow has been facilitating the arrival of migrants at Finland’s border with Russia, prompting the closure of border crossing points, using migration as a tool to put pressure... NATO stands in solidarity with our allied Finland, and I welcome that Frontex is helping to bolster Finland’s borders," he said.

From the middle of November, significantly more people without documents that give them the right to enter the EU territory began to arrive at the checkpoints on the Finnish-Russian border. Previously, Russian border guards did not allow such travellers to leave.

Finland closed all its checkpoints on the border with Russia, except for one in Lapland, and it does not rule out the complete closure of the border to combat the growing migration pressure.

Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala border crossings were closed to traffic since Saturday.