Russia-Finland Border Checkpoint Receives International Status

On Monday, Russia and Finland signed an agreement on granting an international status to the Kuusamo-Suoperya border checkpoint, RIA Novosti was told at the main headquarters of the Finnish border forces. Kuusamo-Suoperya will become the ninth international checkpoint on the Russian-Finnish border. The European Union has allocated six million euros for re-equipment of the checkpoint from the Russian side. In the estimate of Finnish specialists, two to three years will pass before the passage begins to function as international. The border checkpoint has been operated as temporary since the 1970s.