Dozens of EU Frontex guards are sent to Finland to patrol its borders with Russia after hundreds of asylum seekers entered the Nordic country ‘in plot by Putin to weaponise mass migration’
- Finland last week shut half of its eight crossings to Russia after surge in migrants
Dozens of EU Frontex border protection guards will be sent to Finland to police a surge in migrants along its eastern frontier with Russia, the agency said Thursday.
Frontex said it would ‘deploy 50 border guard officers and other staff along with equipment such as patrol cars, to bolster Finland’s border control activities’.
Agents are expected to be on the ground ‘as soon as next week’.
Officially the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex is an agency of the European Union tasked with managing borders and cross-border crime in the bloc.
It followed plans announced Wednesday by Finland’s prime minister to close all but its northernmost crossing point with Russia following a uptick in migrants, which Helsinki claims Moscow has intentionally pushed in response to it joining NATO.
Since the start of August, around 700 asylum seekers have entered Finland without a visa over its 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia. Finland promptly closed half of its eight crossings to Russia last week as figures soared.
Frontex officers stand guard during the official launch of the European Border and Coast Guard on the borders of Bulgaria with Turkey on October 6, 2016
Finnish border guards check the documents of the arriving migrants at the international border crossing at Salla, northern Finland, on November 22, 2023
Migrants are lined up in front of Finnish border guards at the international border crossing at Salla, northern Finland, November 22, 2023
A Finnish Border Guard and a customs officer with dog escort a group of migrants at the international border crossing at Salla, Finnish Lapland, on November 23, 2023
This handout photo released by Governor of Murmansk region Andrey Chibis’ telegram channel on November 22, 2023, Migrants gather getting hot drink inside a tent near the border with Finland at the Salla checkpoint, one of the still open border checkpoints situated in the Kandalaksha district of the Murmansk region
The government said that ‘it is clear that foreign authorities and other actors have played a role in facilitating the entry of persons crossing the border into Finland’.
‘The situation also involves international crime,’ the government said in a statement.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a press conference on Wednesday: ‘The government has today decided to close more border posts. Only Raja-Jooseppi station will remain open.’
The borders, he said, would shut from midnight on Friday.
‘Unfortunately, these measures have not been able to stop this phenomenon,’ Orpo said.
The Finnish government has accused Russia of funnelling migrants to the crossings as payback for its decision to increase defence cooperation with NATO ally the United States, an assertion dismissed by Moscow.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Finland was making a ‘big mistake’ by closing down border crossings and that Helsinki’s move was destroying bilateral relations.
Finland’s NATO accession, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was met with threats of counter-measures by Moscow.
In October, the Finnish Border Guard sounded the alarm about a change in Russia’s policy, as it began allowing migrants without proper documentation to cross the border.
‘This is a systematic and organised action by the Russian authorities,’ Orpo said on Monday.
Migrants with a Finnish border guard at the international border crossing at Salla, northern Finland, on November 22, 2023
In this handout photo released by Governor of Murmansk region Andrey Chibis’ telegram channel on November 22, 2023, migrants gather getting hot drinks inside a tent near the border with Finland at the Salla checkpoint, one of the still open border checkpoints situated in the Kandalaksha district of the Murmansk region
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo addresses a press conference in Helsinki, Finland on November 22, 2023
Border crossings will be closed starting on Friday and will initially remain closed until December 23.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has rejected allegations that Russia is deliberately pushing migrants to the Finnish border.
‘Finnish authorities are beginning to make clumsy excuses, warming up Russophobic sentiments,’ she said in a statement.
READ MORE: Finland closes its doors to asylum seekers saying Vladimir Putin is deliberately sending them across border with Russia because it had joined NATO
Orpo called the ‘instrumentalisation of migration’ an attempt to ‘influence the internal situation and border security in Finland and the EU’.
Finland’s interior ministry said on Wednesday that the influx of migrants from Russia ‘poses a serious threat to national security and public order’.
‘We do not accept this kind of action,’ Orpo said.
Orpo stated that the current legislation also permits the complete closure of the entire border, but as of now, the necessary conditions have not been met.
The Finnish Border Guard said on Wednesday that unauthorised entries continued at crossing points with Russia and had moved further north along the border to Vartius and Salla, two frontier stations that still accepted asylum applications.
Finland said Russia was letting migrants through those two crossing points by foot despite an agreement that they could only be crossed by car.
Images posted on Wednesday by Andrei Chibis, governor of Russia’s northern Murmansk region that borders Finland, show migrants lined up in front of Finnish border guards at the Salla checkpoint and gathering to get hot drinks inside a tent.
‘There are growing signs that the situation is worsening on the eastern border,’ Orpo said.
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday labelled Russia’s actions as a ‘hybrid attack’ and likened it to the situation at Poland’s eastern border with Belarus.
The EU has claimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pushed tens of thousands of migrants across its border to Poland in retaliation for sanctions in 2021.
‘Finland can absolutely count on Polish political support on the one hand, but also on sharing our experiences,’ Duda said.
Anticipating that Moscow could use migrants as a means of political pressure, Finland modified its laws in July 2022 to streamline the construction of a robust barrier along its eastern border.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Finland was making a ‘big mistake’ by closing down border crossings and that Helsinki’s move was destroying bilateral relations (File Photo)
In February, Finland started the construction of a planned 200-kilometre fence.
The barrier will be three metres (10 feet) tall with barbed wire at the top, with particularly sensitive areas equipped with night vision cameras, lights and loudspeakers.
However, only three kilometres have been completed so far and most of the border remains as uninhabited wilderness secured by only light wooden fences.
The Finnish defence forces have been called in to aid in the construction of temporary barriers around some of the border crossing points.
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