Finland said on Tuesday it was considering restricting border traffic or even closing its border crossings with Russia after an increase in illegal migrant crossings.
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Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Russia was deliberately allowing migrants to cross the border despite lacking valid documents, suggesting it was an attempt to destabilize its neighbor.
“It seems to be a conscious decision,” he said. “The government’s message is clear: we want to ensure the security of our borders.”
Finland shares a 1,340 kilometer border with Russia.
The Kremlin vowed in April to take “countermeasures” after Finland joined NATO, calling the Western alliance’s expansion an “attack on Russia’s security.”
Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen told reporters on Tuesday that the government has decided that “the Ministry of Interior will prepare a proposal for restrictive measures” under the border crossing law.
“The government can decide to restrict border traffic or close border crossings,” the minister added.
“According to reports from Finnish border guards, the number of asylum seekers at the country’s eastern border has increased in recent months,” she said.
That number remains “relatively low, but has increased significantly over a short period of time,” she added.
Border Patrol agents recorded the arrival of 39 people at the southeastern border on Monday, more than the 34 in all of last week.
After the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, Finland recorded an increase in arrivals of people without visas, mainly Russians and Ukrainians, at the border with Russia.
“There have been changes in the nationality of the arrivals,” Rantanen said.
Migrants from the Middle East and Africa are more numerous, said Mikko Lehmus, head of the Finnish Border Guard’s analysis unit.
Iraq, Somalia and Yemen are the three main countries of origin for illegal arrivals, said Lehmus, who noted this change in profile “at the end of the summer.”
Finland unveiled a plan at the end of 2022 to build a huge fence along 200 kilometers of its – largely uninhabited – border with Russia. Completion must take place in 2026.