<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Finland has announced that four of the nine crossing points on its long eastern border with Russia will be closed starting Saturday. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that it is an attempt to stem the flow of asylum seekers.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">     </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">According to media reports, the move comes in response to a sharp increase in the number of asylum-seekers from countries such as Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Syria.       </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 10pt;">Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer frontier with Russia, which also serves as the EU's external border with Russia. There are only nine crossing points, one of which is only a railway.</span></p>