Finland closes its border crossings with Russia on Friday evening
Finland will close the four main border crossings with Russia this Friday evening until 18 February... The decision 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 destabilizing purposes, in retaliation for its NATO membership.
Since this summer, a three-metre-high fence topped with barbed wire has separated the border between Finland and Russia. © RFI/Nicolas Feldmann
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with our regional correspondent, Carlotta Morteo
Usually, only about ten asylum seekers show up at the Russian-Finnish border each month. But in just a few days, 280 undocumented people, all from the Middle East or Africa, arrived, on foot and by bike.
The numbers are low, nothing alarming in itself, but this sudden influx brings back memories of the winter of 2015-2016, when 1700,<> asylum seekers crossed the border, when there was a tacit agreement between Russia and Finland that each country filters the crossings on its side and only lets out people with proper papers.
Read alsoFinland welcomes Ukrainian refugees and Russians fleeing Moscow's policy
For 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 sends a message to would-be exiles who are likely to be manipulated by propaganda or fake news: Finland is closed, a border wall is under construction and winter has already begun.
The country is not ruling out the possibility of a scenario that would resemble what happened at the border between Poland and Belarus in 2021, when hundreds of migrants froze to death in the forests.
In addition to Finland's entry into NATO in April 2023, what may have triggered this act of destabilization according to President Sauli Niinisto may have been the recent signing of a bilateral agreement with the United States, which facilitates the deployment and training of American soldiers on Finnish territory.
Read alsoDefending Finland, more than a policy, a state of mind
The four border crossings (Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala) will be closed until 18 February. Dual citizens and Russians living in Finland will therefore not be able to transit from one country to another during the holiday season.
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