OREANDA-NEWS  The closure of checkpoints between Russia and Finland was a negative step, primarily in relation to ordinary citizens of both countries, said Svetlana Zhurova, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs. In a conversation with Lenta.

It's hard to say what this is related to, what they saw in it. Clearly, these crossings were necessary for good neighborliness, for cross-border cooperation

"These borders [mattered] to people who have very long—standing ties with Finland - they have relatives and opportunities, for example, they used each other's sports facilities. There were a lot of infrastructure facilities, a common cultural heritage, so there was such a weekend pedestrian access — both they to us and we to them, it was an opportunity to go to relatives and friends. It was a really warm and neighborly relationship. It is extremely unfortunate, I think that at the level of people there is an understanding that this cannot be done, but at the level of politicians, unfortunately, this is not the case," the deputy said.

Finland has completely stopped the operation of two checkpoints on the border with Russia, the country's border guard said. We are talking about the points in Parikkala and Inari. The press release says that the leadership of the border services of both countries made such a decision in October. In fact, traffic through Inari closed in November 2021, and through Parikkale in April 2022. They were mainly used for transporting timber.