Finland has accused Russia of flooding its borders with migrants from the Middle East and Africa over its decision to increase defense cooperation with the United States, a claim Moscow denies.
Up to 300 migrants from Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Syria arrived in Finland this week, Portal reported, citing Finnish border guards. The arrivals have prompted Finland to erect barricades on its border with Russia to prevent migrants from freely entering the country.
The barbed wire barriers were erected around midnight on Friday at the Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala border posts in southeastern Finland, border officials said.
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After two people broke through the barriers and entered Finland, border authorities said the barriers would be improved so that similar border crossings would be impossible.
ZELENSKYY WARNS THAT RUSSIA WANTS TO CAUSE AN “EXPLOSION” IN THE BALKANS
A delivery truck at Nuijamaa, a border station between Russia and Finland in Lappeenranta, Finland, on Thursday. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)
Migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, have arrived in the Nordic country without proper documents and have sought asylum after Russian authorities allegedly helped them travel to the tightly controlled border zone.
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Migrants arriving from Russia board a van that is transported to the Joutseno reception center at the Nuijamaa border station in Lappeenranta, Finland, on Thursday. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)
The Finnish government has erected barriers at border crossings along the border with Russia to prevent people from entering without proper documentation. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)
Almost all migrants arrived in the border zone on bicycles that were provided and sold to them, according to Finnish and Russian media.
Confiscated bicycles lie on the border between Russia and Finland at the Nuijamaa border checkpoint in Finland on Friday. (Portal/Attila Cser)
Kremlin says Putin’s future successor will be “different but the same.”
Moscow has rejected claims that it was behind the flood of refugees. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian authorities “deeply regret that the leadership of Finland has chosen the path of conscious distancing from the hitherto good nature of our bilateral relations.”
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A border patrol vehicle transports bicycles that asylum seekers use to cross the border to an impoundment camp in Lappeenranta, Finland, on Saturday. (Lehtikuva/Lauri Heino via Portal)
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The Finnish-Russian land border serves as the European Union’s external border and runs a total of 832 miles (1,340 kilometers), mostly through dense forests in the south to the rugged landscape in the Arctic north. There are currently nine border crossings, one of which is only intended for rail traffic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.