Finland keeps its borders closed with Russia

These crossing points will remain closed at least until mid-April by decision of the Finnish authorities, citing reasons of “national security”.

NGOs, for their part, believe that this measure endangers the lives of hundreds of asylum seekers. Our correspondent Julián López went to the field to collect testimonies from the actors involved in this issue.

Helsinki accuses Moscow of smuggling migrants, providing them with money, food, housing or means of transport. Facts that Finland describes as a “hybrid attack” against the country, which recently joined NATO and vehemently opposed the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.

For its part, Moscow denies these allegations. According to the Finnish authorities, nearly 500 illegal immigrants crossed its eastern border in November, compared to only around thirty on average the previous month.

The Finnish government describes these arrivals as a “serious threat to national security and public order”.

Many of these people are now housed in Joutseno, while waiting for their asylum applications to be examined. The reception center for asylum seekers, located around ten kilometers as the crow flies from the Russian border, currently accommodates around a hundred people. Local authorities refused our requests for interviews and our requests for access to the facility.

Some residents, however, agreed to testify, like Nabil, originally from Morocco, who for example confirmed that “the Russian police and army had helped (them). It was good for us”, he relates, ” It was very easy to come here.”

Asylum seekers cannot be deported while their application is under review, a process which can take up to two years. No forced return to Russia appears to have been recorded.

At the Finnish Border Guard headquarters in Helsinki, Deputy Head of Service Marek Saareks said the country’s sea and air borders remained open, but on the land border with Russia, Finland had not few options: “We have information that there are thousands of people in the city of St. Petersburg who could enter Finland through this route,” he said.

Finnish NGOs have criticized this measure. Pargol Miraftab, legal advisor to Amnesty Finland, explains that “human rights belong to every individual. And the government has a duty to respect these rights.” An association of Finnish-Russian dual nationals even took legal action.

However, recent polls show that up to 80% of Finns agree with closing the border.

Some say that inertia on the part of public authorities would lead to the arrival of a million illegal immigrants in two years.

Although it is not part of the government’s program and is motivated by different reasons, the closure seems, for some observers, to constitute a new step towards a tightening of Finland’s migration policy.

The coalition government led by the conservatives and the far right has initiated measures to halve quotas for asylum seekers, limit their protection, restrict family reunifications and charter shared repatriation flights with d other Nordic countries. Negotiations continue.