Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 5, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
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Finland dispatches border guards to Latvia to help manage a surge of migrants from Belarus, as regional cooperation intensifies.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Finland's Border Guard agency said on Friday it was sending a division to Latvia to support the Baltic nation, which is seeking to contain a flow of migrants arriving from Russian ally Belarus.
Guards will be deployed at the request of Latvia through September 22, Finland said.
"The pressure resulting from illegal migration has increased at the border between Latvia and Belarus during 2025," the Finnish agency said in a statement.
The unit will carry out similar border security duties in Latvia as they do in Finland, the agency added, noting that Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania had also provided resources.
Finland in 2023 closed its long border with Russia, accusing Moscow of orchestrating an influx to the Nordic country of migrants arriving from Asia and Africa.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik)
Finland is sending a division of border guards to Latvia at the request of the Baltic nation to help manage the increased flow of migrants arriving from Belarus.
The Finnish border guards will be deployed in Latvia through September 22.
The pressure from illegal migration has increased at the border between Latvia and Belarus during 2025, according to the Finnish Border Guard agency.
Baltic neighbors Estonia and Lithuania have also provided resources to assist Latvia in managing the migrant situation.
In 2023, Finland closed its long border with Russia, accusing Moscow of orchestrating an influx of migrants arriving from Asia and Africa.
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