Several Finnish citizens submitted a complaint to the court alleging that Helsinki is violating their fundamental rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has asked Finland to respond to claims that its border closure with Russia is violating the rights of its Russian-speaking residents, who have been unable to travel to their homeland for various purposes.
According to the court file released on Monday, the case was brought by nine Finnish nationals or residents of Russian origin who argue that the government’s repeated border closures, beginning in November 2023, disrupted key aspects of their personal lives, including access to family, religious freedom, and property.
Finland has been gradually toughening the border with its eastern neighbor following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Most of the restrictions, however, came in 2023 when Helsinki accused Moscow of deliberately diverting illegal migrants to the country, a claim Russia has denied.
Most of the claimants assert that the restrictions have deprived them of the opportunity to see their family members. One insisted that he had to quit his job in Russia, while two others pointed out that they were unable to visit their relatives’ graves several times a year as required by the Orthodox Christian faith. Another also said that she cannot collect her Russian pension due to the EU sanctions against Russian banks and border restrictions.
The ECHR made a formal request to the Finnish authorities whether the closure breached the claimants’ right to private and family life. The court also queried whether those filing the claim had been denied access to justice after Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court dismissed their appeal in March 2024 on the grounds they lacked standing because the closures did not target them individually.
Despite the geopolitical tensions, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday that his country must “mentally prepare [itself] for the fact that relations [with Russia] will open up on a political level at some point.”“Nothing removes the fact that Russia is, and will always be, Finland’s neighbor – 1,350km of neighborly relations,” he added.
In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov remarked that Russia has “never had problems with Finland or Sweden,” but accused both countries – which joined NATO after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict – of “dragging” the bloc’s military infrastructure on to their territory. He reiterated President Vladimir Putin’s position that Russia remains open to normalizing relations with any state willing to do so.
