Finnish border guards have arrested 11 Iranian men who illegally crossed the eastern border with Russia, Finnish media YLE reported on January 12.
Finland completely closed its border with Russia in late November to prevent an influx of Russian migrants. In November alone, around 900 asylum seekers from countries such as Kenya, Somalia and Yemen entered Finland from Russia, which the city of Helsinki accused of being orchestrated by Russia in retaliation for Finland’s NATO membership. are doing.
Finnish authorities announced on January 11 that the border closure will be extended until at least February 11.
Border guards arrested 11 Iranian men in the Finnish-Russian border city of Lappeenranta, about 49 kilometers from the Russian city of Vyborg. The migrants applied for asylum after being captured.
Heikki Atiainen, commander of Finland’s southeastern border guard, told YLE that preliminary investigations showed that the men were assisted by someone on the Russian side, but there was no information regarding their identity. Ta.
Atiainen did not say whether he believed Russian authorities had any involvement in helping the men cross.
He added that Russian border guards are cooperating in the investigation of the matter.
Finnish authorities had previously accused Russia of weaponizing asylum seekers at its borders and characterized the surge in migrants as a “hybrid operation against Finland.”
Allegations that Russia is using migrants to create chaos on its border with Finland are similar to a similar strategy used by Belarus. Facilitate Third country migration flows to the Baltic states and Poland from 2021 onwards.
Finland is trying to learn from Poland’s experience in dealing with border security issues and the weaponization of migrants.
Also read: Media: Russia was planning an intervention operation to prevent Finland and Sweden from joining NATO
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