Russia Regrets Finland’s Move to Close Common Border

Summary

• Moscow expresses regret over Finland's decision to close the common border with Russia due to concerns about irregular migration.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov voices disappointment, stating that Finland is deliberately moving away from their previously good relations.
• The Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, accuses Russia of allowing migrants without proper travel documents to cross into Finland as a tactic to destabilise the country.

Moscow has expressed regret over Finland’s decision to close the common border with Russia due to irregular migration concerns.

We deeply regret that the Finnish leadership has chosen to deliberately move away from what used to be good relations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

His comments came during a press conference in response to Finland’s latest announcement.

The Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo, said that he believes Russia was permitting migrants to cross into Finland despite them not having proper travel documents.

According to a report from InfoMigrants, the Finnish PM said that this was a tactic planned to destabilise his country.

This seems like a deliberate decision. [This] government’s message is clear; we want to take care of the security of our border.

Orpo

The Kremlin warned that it would introduce countermeasures against Finland joining NATO.

According to the figures from Finland’s border guard authority, nearly 60 asylum seekers reached Finland from Russia since Monday, compared to 91 people who reached the country in the past three months.

Finland’s Interior Minister, Mari Rantanen, said that Finland saw a significant increase in the number of crossings at the southeastern border since August, indicating that the Kremlin changed its border policy and enforcement.

She said that Moscow started allowing undocumented people to reach its territory and being eligible to seek asylum, according to a report from Al Jazeera.

Maybe [Russian officials] are annoyed by something in Finland’s activities. You have to ask the Russian authorities about that. We do hope that Russia changes its policy and goes back to what it was before.

Rantanen

Authorities in Finland have taken several measures in order to prevent irregular border crossing attempts.

In February this year, Helsinki announced the construction of a pilot fence about three kilometres.

At the same time, in October this year, the Eastern border pilot project barrier was completed, with authorities activating about three kilometres.

The number of irregular border crossing attempts has marked a notable increase this year. The figures from the European Union Border and Guard Agency (Frontex) revealed that a total of 279,350 people attempted to reach the EU countries in an irregular way for a period between January and November, marking a 17 per cent increase compared to the same period last year statistics.

Frontex’s figures noted that the most border-crossing attempts were detected at the Central Mediterranean route, accounting for one out of every two detections for the year.