Finland has accused Russia of handing out bicycles and foot-scooters to migrants to help them cross the border as part of a plan to destabilise Europe.
Antti Häkkänen, the Finnish defence minister, also accused the Kremlin of dipping into its “playbook” on hybrid war by encouraging migrants to enter the country without the correct documents.
“Russia has directed unspecified interference at the border,” he said. “We know what Russia is doing.”
Helsinki has now ordered four of its eight road crossings with Russia to be closed and the European Commission has promised to send its border control unit to Finland.
Finnish officials said that the timing of the migrant surge from Russia was not a coincidence. Finland joined Nato this year, angering the Kremlin, and will host its first major naval exercise as a member of the Western military alliance on Monday.
Finnish media reported that 300 migrants, mainly young men from Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Somalia, had crossed into Finland from Russia this week, up from near zero in a normal week.
Most of the migrant routes to Europe are via the Mediterranean Sea or Central Europe and not through more remote and inhospitable northern areas that border Russia.
pass_it_around on November 20th, 2023 at 09:27 UTC »
I initially thought that Finland overreacted and implemented the decision they made a while ago. Now it looks like the number of asylum seekers is indeed unusual, so is their scheme. What's the endgame for Putin here? Apparently, the scheme didn't work out in the case of Belarus-Poland a few years ago. Does Putin think that Finland is more mellow and start accepting these people, so Putin will bring even more of them to the border?
eggplant_avenger on November 20th, 2023 at 08:38 UTC »
most humane European migrant policy
Foozli on November 20th, 2023 at 02:42 UTC »
SS: Finland has accused Russia of handing out bicycles and foot-scooters to migrants to help them cross into Finland as part of a plan to destabilise Europe.
Antti Häkkänen, the Finnish defence minister, also accused the Kremlin of dipping into its “playbook” on hybrid war by encouraging migrants to cross its borders without the correct documents.
“Russia has directed unspecified interference at the border,” he said. “We know what Russia is doing.” Helsinki has now ordered four of its eight road crossings with Russia to be closed and the European Commission has promised to send its border control unit to Finland.
Finnish officials said that the timing of the migrant surge from Russia was not a coincidence. Finland joined Nato this year, angering the Kremlin, and will host its first major naval exercise as a member of the Western military alliance on Monday.
Finnish media reported that 300 migrants, mainly young men from Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Somalia, have crossed into Finland from Russia this week, up from near-zero in a normal week.