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Thursday November 23, 2023
A Finnish border guard escorts migrants waiting in the snow across the border from Russia to Finland via the Salla crossing. Source: AAP / STT-Lehtikuva/Sipa USA
Finland will close all but its northernmost border crossing with Russia, following a surge in migrants entering, which Helsinki claims Russia is intentionally pushing its way.
Since the start of the month, more than 600 people without valid visas to the European Union have come to Finland via its 1,300km border with Russia.
“The government has today decided to close more border posts. Only Raja-Jooseppi station will remain open,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.
“This is a systematic and organised action by the Russian authorities,” he added.
In October, the Finnish border guard sounded the alarm about a change in Russia’s policy, as it began allowing migrants without proper documentation to cross the border and numbers substantially grew from relatively small daily applications of below 10.
The asylum seekers, many of whom line up for days in sub-zero temperatures, come from a range of nations including Yemen, Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria, according to immigration authorities.
The government said “it is clear that foreign authorities and other actors have played a role in facilitating the entry of persons crossing the border into Finland”.
Finland said Russia was letting migrants through those two crossing points by foot despite an agreement that they could only be crossed by car.
As of Friday, seven out of eight eastern border crossings will be closed until at least 23 December.
President Sauli Niinisto said on Monday repatriating people who do not meet the criteria for asylum had become impossible and called for an EU-wide solution to stop uncontrollable entry to Europe’s passport-free Schengen area.
Why is Russia being accused of a ‘hybrid attack operation’?
Finland’s interior ministry has said the influx of migrants from Russia “poses a serious threat to national security and public order”.
“Undoubtedly Russia is instrumentalising migrants” as part of its “hybrid warfare” against Finland, foreign minister Elina Valtonen said on Wednesday.
The suggestion is that the influx of migrants is a geopolitical tactic to undermine security and unsettle the state’s population.
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday labelled Russia’s actions as a “hybrid attack” and likened it to the situation at Poland’s eastern border with Belarus.
Finland initially closed four border crossings, before deeming the situation dire enough to close a further three. Source: AAP / STT-Lehtikuva/Sipa USA
The EU has claimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pushed tens of thousands of migrants across its border to Poland in retaliation for sanctions in 2021.
“Finland can absolutely count on Polish political support on the one hand, but also on sharing our experiences,” Duda said.
How has Russia responded?
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has rejected allegations that Russia is deliberately pushing migrants to the Finnish border.
“Finnish authorities are beginning to make clumsy excuses, warming up Russophobic sentiments,” she said in a statement.
The Kremlin said on Monday it had lodged a formal protest over Finland’s partial border closure, saying the decision reflected an anti-Russian stance.
The souring of Finnish and Russian relations
Finland’s relationship with Russia soured in 2021, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It forced both Finland and Sweden to abandon decades of neutrality, as they applied for acceptance to the US-lead NATO alliance. Finland’s acceptance in April doubled NATO’s border with Russia.
Moscow warned the Nordic country of “countermeasures” after the move.
Anticipating that Moscow could use migrants as a means of political pressure, Finland modified its laws in July 2022 to streamline the construction of a robust barrier along its eastern border.
In February, Finland started the construction of a planned 200km fence.
The barrier will be three metres tall with barbed wire at the top, with particularly sensitive areas equipped with night vision cameras, lights and loudspeakers.
However, only 3km have been completed so far and most of the border remains as uninhabited wilderness secured by only light wooden fences.
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