The Finnish government decided on Thursday to close several border crossings with Russia until mid-February. Since the beginning of this week, more asylum seekers have arrived at the Vaalimaa and Nuijamaa stations in southern Finland every day. These two border crossings are to be closed on the night of Friday to Saturday, just like those in Imatra and Niirala.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of the conservative Coalition Party said on Thursday that the government wanted to react “toughly” to the phenomenon and spoke of concerted action on the Russian side. “It is clear that these people are being helped and are also being transported or escorted to the border by Russian border guards,” he said. Markkus Hasisen, the deputy head of the border guard, spoke of a “serious threat to national security”.
Hundreds of Syrians, Afghans and Somalis came from Russia in the winter of 2015
Jukka Lukkari, deputy commander of the Finnish border troops, said in an interview with the South German newspaper, there has been a “striking increase” in the number of asylum seekers in the past few days: “On Monday there were 39, on Tuesday 55, on Wednesday 75.” That doesn’t sound like much, but many people in Finland look back on the winter of 2015/16 with unease.
At that time, hundreds of Syrians, Afghans and Somalis suddenly appeared at several border crossings in the north of the country and asked for asylum. First they came on bicycles, then when the authorities temporarily banned crossing the border by bicycle, the next groups showed up in scrappy Russian cars. Within three months, around 1,700 people from 36 nations applied for asylum in Finland.
Closed to entry from Russia: the Vaalimaa border station on the Finnish side.
(Photo: Friedrich Bungert)
When asked whether the current increase reminds him of 2015, Lukkari says it was winter back then and the whole thing took place at the other end of the country, way up in the north, but there are “some similarities. And we’re sure that there are criminal infrastructures on the Russian side that help asylum seekers.”
Until recently, Russia had refused to allow travelers with incomplete documents to continue their journey to Finnish border crossings. For a few weeks now, the Russian authorities have been allowing people to cross the border into Finland even without the necessary entry documents.
Refugees report that Russian police escorted them near the border
The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat quoted several asylum seekers on Wednesdaywho said that bicycles were being sold on a large scale from car trailers near the border crossings. Others reportedPolice cars escorted them near a border station.
Videos have been circulating on Tiktok for a few days that explain in Arabic how best to get to Finland from Russia. “Russia has opened Finland’s eastern border to immigration,” one of the videos says. “Everyone should advise their friends to take this route. Be prepared.” The video also shows a map with all Finnish-Russian border crossings.
The Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said on Wednesday in Bonn, Russia’s actions could be a reaction to Finland’s NATO membership. Finland joined the defense alliance in April. Niinistö had previously warned that if they joined, they would have to be prepared for “mischief” from Russia. Niinistö visited his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier this weekto celebrate 50 years of official diplomatic relations between Germany and Finland with him at Villa Hammerschmidt.
Niinistö emphasized that Finland must now have a discussion about “what national security means in relation to legal security and the human rights of the individual.” If the Russian authorities continue to allow people without the necessary travel documents to pass through their checkpoints, this could lead to undocumented people being stranded at the Finnish border in the cold winter months, similar to what happens at the border between Belarus and Poland.
Finland changed its legislation last year so that border authorities will no longer accept asylum applications at individual border crossings in exceptional cases. The country has also begun building fortification fences on 200 of its 1,344-kilometer-long border with Russia. So far there are only three kilometers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the Russian government “deeply regrets that the Finnish leadership has decided to deliberately move away from formerly good relations.”