Finland will close four border crossings with Russia to stop migrants
Finland said Thursday it was closing part of its border with Russia after a dramatic increase in migrant crossings that it blamed on Moscow., the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the neighbors since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The announcement followed days of warnings from authorities in Finland about an increase in border crossings, which President Sauli Niinisto of Finland suggested on Wednesday was Moscow’s retaliation for Finland’s decision to join NATO.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said at a press conference on Thursday that Finland will close four border crossings on its eastern border from midnight on Friday. The government wanted to “respond strongly,” he said, to what it viewed as “organized activity” by Russia.
“Finland, as an EU and NATO member, is steadily among the countries condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “That is why we are prepared for various actions by Russia, trouble, and this situation does not come as a surprise to us.”
He added: “We acted decisively and quickly to prevent the situation from deteriorating.”
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
Finland, a country with about 5.6 million inhabitants, shares an 830 mile long border with Russian – and also a combative history. The Russian invasion of Ukraine raised fears in Finland that the country could become one of Moscow’s next targets. The government has put aside decades of military disconnect, and quickly moved to join NATOa step that Russia described as “clearly hostile.”
But even before the invasion of Ukraine, the migrant issue was a sticking point between Helsinki and Moscow. In late 2015 and early 2016, Finland faced a crisis a wave of migrants seeking asylum crossing the Russian border, most of them coming from third countries. Then Finnish officials also saw Moscow’s hand.
“The impression that someone on the Russian side is organizing and regulating things is probably true,” Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini told the country’s state broadcaster at the time. “It is very clear that these types of activities are a managed effort.”
In recent days, Finland has again raised alarms about an increase in the number of migrants at the border – relatively small numbers that the country said represented a significant change.
The Finnish Border Guard announced on Monday that this would happen crossing by bicycle is no longer possible Three checkpoints were looking into what was said to be an “illegal entry phenomenon”, with people trying to enter “without adequate travel documents”.
“Apparently they found the bikes near the border,” said Jukka Lukkari, deputy commander of the Southeastern Border Guard, The Finnish national broadcaster Yle said this on Tuesday. “They drive a fairly short distance.”
The next day, the Finnish Ministry of the Interior warned that it was considering closing border crossings with Russia.
“The total number of asylum seekers at the eastern border is still relatively low, but the number has grown significantly in a short time,” it said. said in a statement Wednesday, without providing figures. The ministry attributed the increase to a “change” in Russia, saying authorities there had started allowing people to travel to Finland “without proper documents.”