Marko Sareks, deputy chief of the Finnish Border Guard, told Eire’s Breakfast TV show on Monday morning that hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants could still be waiting to enter Finland on the Russian side of the border. He said it was sexual.
“At this moment we cannot say whether this phenomenon is over,” Szarek said, adding that Finnish border authorities were in contact with Russian border authorities to try to resolve the situation.
Finland partially and then completely closed its border with Russia over suspicions that the flow of migrants was orchestrated by Moscow as part of a so-called hybrid operation. Prime Minister Peteri Orupo (NCP) told Eire over the weekend that the government may decide to extend the shutdown beyond the current deadline of February 11.
Since August, more than 1,200 migrants from 29 countries have applied for asylum in Finland via the Russian border, according to figures provided to Eire by the Finnish immigration agency Migri.
The list details the nationality and number of people who have crossed the Finnish-Russian border since August 1, the period when border authorities began noticing a significant increase in activity along the eastern border. This is because it is said that
The majority of migrants who arrived at Finnish border crossings since August arrived without the necessary documents and applied for asylum either immediately or shortly after their arrival.
Svi Akainen, head of the Migri exile unit, told Eire that 186 of them have since gone missing. Breaking down the numbers by nationalist group, 102 of the missing asylum seekers are Syrian nationals, 102 are Indian, and 19 are Moroccan.
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“For the latter two, a significant proportion of the applications received are missing,” Akainen pointed out.
He added that while the number of people crossing the eastern border during this period was unusually high, there was nothing unusual about the nationalities of those arriving.
“The number of missing people may suggest that Finland has also been used as a transit country,” Akainen said.
This article was published in Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.