Finland has just closed its border with Russia and accuses the country of using hostile tactics to amass masses of migrants at its gates. We are closely monitoring the situation in the Baltic countries, which share these concerns. But another country, Georgia, is being destabilized in a different way and is struggling to resist.
Article written by France Info – Marielle Vitureau, Régis Genté
Radio France
Published on November 30, 2023 7:29 p.m
Reading time: 4 minutes
Fence on the border between Latvia and Belarus in Robeznieki, Latvia, on August 8, 2023, the day of a presidential visit. (GINTS IVUSKANS / AFP)
Since Finland, concerned about Russia’s state of war, joined NATO last March, relations between the two countries have continued to deteriorate. On Thursday, November 30, Finnish authorities announced the closure of the last open border crossing with Russia. They accuse Moscow of staging a “hybrid attack” by sending undocumented migrants, particularly from Somalia, Iraq and Yemen, along the 1,340-kilometer border that separates the two countries. This accusation that Russia is using migration to destabilize its neighbors is echoed by the nearby Baltic countries, where Russia and its Belarusian ally staged the same phenomena in 2021. But in Georgia, another former USSR region, the opposition has difficulty being heard.
Cautious Baltic countries are building barriers
In the Baltic countries, very close to Finland, the borders with Russia are still open, but only for a certain category of Russian citizens. You need a residence permit in a European country, a humanitarian visa or need to cross the border to work. Illegal immigrants have been pushed back since the major migration crisis of 2021 on the border between Poland and Belarus and between Lithuania and Belarus, where more than 4,000 people arrived in just a few weeks.
Following Finland’s decision to close its border, Lithuania’s interior minister said there was currently no need to take similar measures. It must be said that Lithuania has built several hundred kilometers of barrier on the border with Belarus for its protection. Latvia does the same. This is the reaction of the two Baltic countries in the fight against this illegal migration. It is also seen in the region as a hybrid attack led by Russia and Belarus, with migrants being exploited on multiple fronts. In Estonia, the president said a few days ago that the country was ready to deal with it. Border guards were still placing concrete blocks on the Narva Bridge, which separates Estonia and Russia.
Georgia and the development of pro-Russian politics
The situation is also quite tense in the former Caucasian Soviet republic of Georgia. According to sources from our correspondent in Tbilisi, 150,000 Russians lived there again this summer. These 150,000 Russian residents out of a population of 3.7 million are viewed as enemies because Russia supports separatist regimes in two Georgian regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which make up 20% of the national territory. The streets of the capital Tbilisi are littered with hostile graffiti. Originally directed against Vladimir Putin and his brutal imperialism, these graffiti now criticize Russians themselves and blame them for the power waging war against their neighbors, today against Ukraine, but also against Georgia in 2008.
Nevertheless, this Russian population represents a wealthy clientele and is still accepted by many Georgians. This massive influx of Russians, many of whom work in the IT (information technology) sector, has enabled the enrichment of some, such as owners who rent their apartments at two or three times the price, or traders, restaurateurs, etc.
So when the opposition warns about the danger posed by these Russian “enemies”, when even President Salomé Zurabishvili, who certainly only has protocol powers, argues for the restoration of visas for Russians, the party in power is not affected by this agreements. Under the aegis of the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, this party called the “Georgian Dream” has been pursuing a policy of rapprochement with Moscow, a pro-Russian policy, for a year and a half.