They pulled similar shit on Belarus-Polish border. Flew couple thousands people from Iraq promising them asylum in the EU, then walked them across the fence and closed the gates behind them. When Poland refused to let them in and some people froze in the fields in between border crossing it made Poland look like monsters in the media rather than Lukaschenko, so it worked like a charm.
In Finland the social media ghouls have had similar wishes of hosing the third parties down so they freeze to death. Or even just shooting them.
Even the financial minister (foreigners might remember her racist blog posts highlighted during the summer) said that legalities shouldn’t matter.
Russia has been abusing the fact that usually we play nice and by the rules.
Yeah. Hope our fuck-up cabinet won’t start compromising on such a core value
I’m glad we give no ground to Russian bullshit
I’m glad we’re known to be better to people than Russia
I prefer appropriate measures over reputation.
Sure. What can Finland do to Russia for an appropriate measure? Now we seem to just try to hassle the other people stuck in the situation without a valid reasoning
Well, sorry if I’m not sympathetic to Poland there and their far right party at the time.
You mean the one that got to power after the entire previous government died under suspicious circumstances during a plane crash in russia?
This is another hybrid war tactic by Russia against the west.
t might seem cruel, but shutting down the border is the right move. It teaches Russia the West won’t put up with this evil tactic. It also teaches people around the world that if Russia is flying you to a new country, it’s not going to turn out well.
Not sure if really a surge. Border and reception center personnel were quoted that we have the capacity for processing and accomodation, and the capability for quick changes if needed.
And as the incoming numbers dwindled down, the cabinet started this show. Their voters are xenophobic and the cabinet support was down in the polls as they are running different parts of the society down and making workers’ life harder.
The cabinet is also known for a combo of parties with Russian oligarch connections and fandom towards putin-style accelerationism strongman totalitarianism.
The official reason is national security and classified intelligence so nothing is told to the public. The Immigration Office, whose responsibility asylum seekers are, has said to the press that there no evidence that those who’ve passed over would be war criminals or military disguised as civilians.
Edit: changed out the anti-immigration description, while true, is not relevant in this case.
Immigration is neither here nor there. This is a reaction to a Russian hybrid operation.
Is it a special hybrid operation, maybe? 😉
And looks like it’s pure reactionism. Anyone crossing over anywhere has to be picked up anyway and transferred to a reception center, which is only right.
But at least we get a show of hubris
That’s the point. The right wingers want to show that the border control isn’t working, so they can get more funding for the stupid “build a wall” project. The easiest way to stop a border crossing from working is to shut it down. The result is actually loss of control, but that’s just fine because it’ll “prove” that the wall is necessary. If there wasn’t actually a problem with illegal immigrants there sure will be now.
Yup. It’s similar to the path with what’s been happening with education and health care. Apply changes which fuck it up, say “you see it’s not working and we lose taxpayer money, gotta shut it down”. Optionally add right wing buddy corporations to do the service for more money.
The wall was already approved because of the situation in Polish-Belarusian border. Because it was felt that Russia would do the same here.
Turns out that prediction was right.
It’s surge because the numbers started climbing out of nowhere
The numbers went down when restrictions were put in place
The official reason is national security and classified intelligence so nothing is told to the public. The Immigration Office, whose responsibility asylum seekers are, has said to the press that there no evidence that those who’ve passed over would be war criminals or military disguised as civilians.
Police have said they have concerning information, which is something the immigration office doesn’t have access to.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Finland is closing all crossings on the Russian border after accusing Moscow of deliberately helping migrants into the country.
Finland is “determined to put an end to the crossings”, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in a statement.
The government says Russia is channelling asylum seekers towards Finland in what it calls an “influence operation” and “hybrid attack” - and has responded by progressively closing more and more border posts.
Only three migrants crossed into Finland through Raja-Jooseppi on Monday and zero on Tuesday, but the government said it was taking no chances with what it characterised as a threat to national security.
Finland’s non-discrimination ombudsman has raised concerns that Helsinki is jeopardising the right to seek asylum under international law - especially as the last remaining border crossing was around 900km (560 miles) north of the capital.
Pia Lindfors, executive director of the Finnish Refugee Advice Centre, told the BBC that she feared the decision would push asylum seekers to cross away from official crossing points, through the hundreds of kilometres of forests and rivers making up the long border.
The original article contains 412 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 56%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Crazy how Russia and the US Republican party seem to use such similar tactics.