The Finnish government has said it will close its last open entry point to Russia in a bid to stop a surge in irregular migrant arrivals. EU and NATO member states say the attempted border crossings are a hybrid attack orchestrated by Russia.
On Tuesday (November 28), Finland's prime minister said the Scandinavian country will shut its last border crossing to Russia, the AFP news agency reported.
"The government has today decided to close all border crossing points on the eastern border," Finish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters. According to AFP, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen added that the closure would come into effect overnight between Wednesday and Thursday and last until December 13.
The announcement comes on the heels of reports from Monday that the Finnish government is considering closing the country's last open border crossing with Russia, citing 'intelligence information' that more people might arrive soon.
Finland and its allies in the European Union and the NATO military alliance, which Finland joined in April, have accused the Russian government of orchestrating the arrival of undocumented migrants on the 1,340 kilometer-long frontier, which runs mostly through taiga forests.
Some 900 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and other nations have entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from less than one per day previously, according to the Finnish border guard.
All but one border crossing closed
Finland blames a change in Russian border protocol for the increase and calls this a hybrid attack, according to news agency Reuters.
The government in Helsinki accuses Moscow of transporting the migrants to the border as a reaction to Finland's decision to increase defense cooperation with the United States, Reuters reported. The Kremlin in Moscow repeatedly denied this allegation. Finland's accession to NATO, prompted by the war in Ukraine, infuriated Russia and ended decades of military non-alignment of the Scandinavian country of 5.5 million.
Authorities were reportedly still expecting more migrants to arrive.
"Intelligence information from different sources tells us that there still are people on the move … if this continues, more measures will be announced in the near future," Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a press conference.
Last week, Finland's defense forces said they would assist the border guard in mounting temporary barriers at certain parts of the border to stop people from crossing through the forests, Reuters reported.
Non-EU country but fellow NATO state Norway also shares a border with Russia that's roughly 200 kilometers long. So far, however, there's been no reports about irregular migrant arrivals there.
Read more: Finland erects barriers at border with Russia to control migrant influx
Aim to 'create fragmentation'
While Prime Minister Orpo didn't share which measures Finnish authorities might take, several Finnish media outlets, citing anonymous government sources, had reported on Monday that the government had held talks over closing the Raja-Jooseppi border checkpoint, too.
At a press conference on Monday, Orpo's Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson said that defending the Finnish border was a joint responsibility, and that Sweden would provide help should Finland ask for it.
He also said Russia was orchestrating the situation "with the obvious aim to cause wider problems and create fragmentation in Western countries".
"This is an EU external border and we have a common interest in [Finland's] efforts," he added. EU country Sweden, which does not share a border with Russia, is eager to join Finland in becoming a NATO member.
An investigation by DW found that it's relatively easy to find information online about how to enter Finland from Russia without valid papers. For example, a search of the encrypted messaging service Telegram turned up several Arabic-language chats with users sharing their experiences.
A three-month study visa, registered participation in a short Russian language course and transportation to the border would cost $1,300 (€1,200). For $2,500, potential migrants could get a visa with provision for a one-year extension as well as student accommodation and health insurance "so there are no problems at the border", DW reported.
Read more: Finland's president appeals to EU as border tensions rise
Support from the EU
Last week, the European Union's border agency Frontex agreed to deploy dozens of its border guards and other staff and equipment to help at the border starting on Wednesday (November 29).
On Monday (November 27), NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels the defense alliance had so far not received any request for involvement.
"In recent weeks, Moscow has been facilitating the arrival of migrants at Finland's border with Russia, prompting the closure of border crossing points, using migration as a tool to put pressure on a neighbor and a NATO ally," Stoltenberg said.
Following the attempt of 30 mostly Somali and Syrian migrants to enter Estonia in the city of Narva in roughly one week, Estonia's interior minister last week called the situation at the Estonian-Russian border "similar" to that in Latvia and Lithuania at their borders with Belarus.
Since May 2021, thousands of migrants have been attempting to reach Poland, Lithuania and Latvia via Belarus, leading to a humanitarian crisis for those stranded along the EU external border. Some migrants were exposed to freezing weather conditions for weeks.
Similar to the events in Finland, the three EU countries have accused Belarus and Russia of orchestrating the arrival of thousands of Middle Eastern and African migrants at their borders in a bid to destabilize the bloc. Belarus has denied the allegation.
with Reuters