Finland will close the four main border crossings with Russia this Friday evening and until February 18… A decision that follows the unusual arrival of undocumented migrants in recent days. According to Helsinki, this is a malicious operation: the Finnish government accuses Moscow of manipulating asylum seekers for destabilization purposes in retaliation for the country’s membership in NATO.
Published on: 11/17/2023 – 6:40 a.m. Modified on: 11/17/2023 – 6:42 a.m
2 minutes
with our regional correspondent, Carlotta Morteo
Normally only about ten asylum seekers show up at the Russian-Finnish border every month. But within a few days, 280 undocumented people, all from the Middle East or Africa, arrived on foot and by bicycle.
The numbers are low, nothing worrying in themselves, but this sudden influx brings back memories of the winter of 2015-2016, when 1,700 asylum seekers crossed the border while there was a tacit agreement between Russia and Finland for each country to filter passage on its own and only lets people with valid papers out.
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For the Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo“It is clear that these people are being helped, escorted or transported.” For the right-wing and far-right coalition, closing the border also makes it possible to send a message to candidates for exile who may be manipulated by propaganda or false information: Finland is closed, a Border wall is under construction and winter has already started well.
The country does not rule out the possibility of a scenario similar to what occurred at the US border in 2021 Poland and Belarusas hundreds of migrants froze to death in the forests.
next to theFinland’s accession to NATO in April 2023According to President Sauli Niinisto, this act of destabilization may have been triggered by the recent signing of a bilateral agreement with the United States facilitating the deployment and training of American soldiers on Finnish territory.
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The four border crossing points (Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala) will remain closed until February 18. Binational citizens and Russians living in Finland will therefore not be able to travel from one country to another during the year-end holidays.