Finland says Russia is sending hundreds of migrants from African and Middle Eastern countries across its border illegally and has closed all but one border crossing in response. Finland closed four of eight land border crossings last week, but reported "organized" crossings had continued and expanded north. It now says it will close all but the northernmost Raja-Jooseppi crossing in Lapland beginning Friday, per the New York Times. Calling this "a matter of collective European concern," the European Union's border agency, Frontex, said Thursday that it will send "significant reinforcement," including 50 border guard officers, to Finland as early as next week.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo left no doubt about who he believes is responsible for the arrival of 700 migrants without visas this month alone. "Russia has sought for years to cause discord, to shake unity in Europe and to weaken the Western alliance and international rules-based order," he said in a televised address to Parliament on Thursday. "Russia started this, and Russia also can stop it." Officials believe Russia is encouraging and assisting migrants—largely from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Kenya, Morocco, and Somalia—in crossing into Finland. A few dozen migrants arrived in September and October before the surge reported this month, per the AP.
Finland, which has only just begun erecting a barbed-wired fence along its 830-mile border with Russia so as to curb illegal immigration, accused Russia of sending thousands of asylum-seekers to border crossings in previous years. "Russia deliberately uses the people it directs to the border area for its own purposes," the government said Wednesday, adding the influx poses "a serious threat to public order and national security" in the country of 5.6 million. "Finland cannot be destabilized," said Orpo. "Our national response must be clear and strong." A rep for Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed the "unsubstantiated" allegations as "misinformation," adding Finland was encouraging "Russophobic sentiments," per the AFP and Times. (More Finland stories.)