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All time high at Lapland borders

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Never before has so many crossed the borders between Russia’s Kola Peninsula and Finland.

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21.852 border crossings took place at Salla in January 2012, nearly 5.000 more than the previous peak-month, December 2011. Also Finland’s northernmost border to Russia, Raja-Jossepi had a record number with 14.676, reads the statistics from Finnish border guards.

Beginning of January is Christmas and New Year’s vacation period in Russia. More and more of the inhabitants in the Murmansk region choose to travel abroad the first 10 days of the year. Ski-resorts in Lapland were reportedly filled up with Russian tourists.

Read alsoFinland with twice as many visas as Norway in Murmansk

More than a quarter-million border-crossings were counted at the two border stations between Kola and Lapland in 2011, up one third compared with the year before.