Finnish border guards escort migrants at the international border crossing in Salla, northern Finland, November 23, 2023. Photo by Lehtikuva/Jussi Nukari via Portal
HELSINKI (AP) — Finland said Tuesday it would close its last remaining border crossing with Russia amid concerns that Moscow is using migrants as part of a “hybrid warfare” effort to destabilize the Nordic country after it joins NATO.
Finland had already closed seven of the eight checkpoints on its 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia this month after a surge in migrant arrivals from the Middle East and Africa. Helsinki has accused Moscow of leading them to the border – through dense forests in the south to the harsh Arctic landscape in the north.
“The government has decided to close all border crossings along the entire eastern border,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters, saying Finland was in an “extraordinary” situation that the government blamed Moscow for orchestrating.
“Finland has good reason to believe that the entry (of migrants) is organized by a foreign state. This is about Russian influence and we will not accept it,” Orpo said bluntly. “We do not accept any attempt to jeopardize our national security. Russia caused this situation and can stop it.”
The complete closure announced on Tuesday will last at least two weeks, after which a border crossing could be reopened, the Finnish government said.
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The current situation means that migrants arriving from Russia can only apply for asylum if they arrive at Finnish airports or ports. However, there is currently no air or passenger ship traffic between Russia and Finland, so these options do not exist.
The Kremlin denies encouraging migrants to enter Finland and regrets Finnish border closures. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova argued last week that Helsinki should have instead tried to “work out a mutually acceptable solution or obtain an explanation.”
According to Finnish authorities, about 1,000 migrants have arrived since August without visas or valid documents at the normally tightly controlled border, which makes up a significant part of NATO’s northeastern flank and serves as the European Union’s external border in the north.
Of that number, about 900 people arrived at Finland’s border with Russia this month, an unusual increase of 5.6 million for the country, Finnish authorities said. The asylum seekers come from countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, they said.
Most are young men in their 20s and 30s, but some are families with children and women, according to Border Patrol data and photos. Many of them wore sneakers and light outdoor gear. Almost all of them arrived in the border zone on bicycles, which were provided and sold to them, according to Finnish and Russian media.
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The governor of Russia’s northern Murmansk region said last week that at least 400 people were waiting to enter Finland on the Russian side of the border and that number was expected to rise as Helsinki gradually closed its border crossings.
Orpo said in a separate statement that Russia was leading people to the border “in harsh winter conditions.” Finland is determined to put an end to this phenomenon.
Two years ago, the EU accused Russia’s ally Belarus of using migrants seeking a better life in Europe as pawns to destabilize Western democracies. European leaders called it a form of “hybrid warfare” by Moscow, along with disinformation, election interference and cyberattacks.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen used the same term in a Nov. 22 interview with The Associated Press.
She said there was no doubt that Russia was “instrumentalizing migrants” as part of its “hybrid warfare.” Before joining NATO this year, a decision triggered by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Finnish officials warned that Russia could look for ways to destabilize the country in retaliation, including cyberattacks and sending migrants to its borders Borders – something that happened in Finland in the winter of 2015-16.
“We have evidence that, unlike before, the Russian border authorities not only allow people without proper documents to the Finnish border, but also actively help them enter the border zone,” Valtonen said.
Some Western political analysts believe Russia’s motive is to wreak havoc on the EU’s external borders.
For decades, both the Finnish and Russian border authorities have controlled that only people with proper documents are allowed to cross the border – in both directions. Recently, however, Finnish officials noted the change in checks by Russian guards, who typically prohibit foreigners from entering within a radius of several kilometers (miles).
Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said the last remaining border crossing for vehicle traffic, Raja-Jooseppi in Finland’s Arctic north, would close at midnight on Wednesday and remain closed until December 13. A railway crossing between the two countries remains open, but only for freight traffic.