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Solution to curb asylum seekers crossing from Russia possible within weeks: Finnish minister

Xinhua, February 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Finnish Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said Friday he believed a solution can be found to tackle the influx of asylum seekers crossing from Russia to Finland.

Orpo made the remarks to local media following the publication of comments made by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev saying that Russia had "no lawful way to stop persons who want to cross into Finland".

Orpo said it is true that the Russians cannot prevent asylum seekers from applying for asylum in Finland. However, he added that Russia knows that the Finnish leaders are disappointed with the situation.

"I can see that Russia is ready to seek a solution to prevent illegal entries," he was quoted by newspaper Helsingin Sanomat as saying.

Orpo said he would not speculate as to what kind of agreement could be reached, but said he believed a solution could be found within weeks rather than months.

Recently, Finland has been seeking diplomatic means to solve the migration problem with Russia, but no any notable progress has been made yet.

In the past months, more than 1,000 asylum seekers crossed the Finnish-Russian border to enter Finland without a valid Schengen visa. The number of arrivals has been surging in recent weeks. Endit