The Prime Minister of Finland stated that Russia helps illegal migrants to enter the country. According to him, Russian border guards are involved in this.
This is reported by the BBC and the Finnish broadcaster Yle.
The number of Russian-Finnish border crossings remains relatively small but continues to grow. As of 06:30 on November 15, 36 asylum seekers have already arrived at the border. In the two previous days, 94 people were registered. For comparison, in the four months to November 12, there were a total of 91.
The representative of the border guard of Finland said that among the migrants, there are citizens of Iraq, Yemen and Syria who arrived in Russia legally but did not have permission to enter Finland.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo blamed the Russian authorities.
"It is clear that these people are being assisted and are also being escorted or transported to the border by border guards," Orpo said.
Interior Minister Marie Rantanen told Yle that Finland could close its eastern border and even the entire countryʼs border under certain conditions.
- In recent years, Finland has been preparing for the fact that Russia will send a large number of asylum seekers to the border. The Russians have already done this on the Finnish border during the migration crisis of 2015.
- Many migrants move to Finland on bicycles without the necessary papers, without working bicycle lights and helmets. On November 12 , Finland banned crossing the border with Russia on bicycles.