Refugees from Russia at the EU border: Vladimir Putin's revenge on Finland's accession to NATO?

Berlin newspaper Refugees from Russia at the EU border: Vladimir Putin's revenge on Finland's accession to NATO? Article by Alexander Dubowy • 2 hours. Refugees at the Russian-Finnish border in Vaalimaa in December 2023 The number of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa who want to cross the EU border with Finland from Russia has remained unusually high for two months now. One of the leading Russian investigative media The Insider reported on December 26, 2023 about its weeks of research into the current situation at the border crossings between Russia and Finland and found interesting parallels to the unexpectedly high number of refugees at the border between Poland and the Republic of Belarus in 2021. Investigations and conversations by The Insider with refugees and people smugglers revealed that the influx of refugees at the Russian-Finnish border not only occurs with the knowledge and at the request of Russian border authorities, but rather is under the full control of Russian security authorities. Incidentally, The Insider is of the opinion that these are the same security agencies that were involved in organizing the influx of refugees on the border between Belarus and Poland two years ago. The first reports of refugees attempting to cross the Russian-Finnish border appeared in early November 2023. At that time, they traveled to the border crossings individually or in small groups. As The Insider's investigation revealed, Russian border officials provided the refugees with bicycles and allowed them to pass through the Russian border crossing without a Schengen visa. In mid-November 2023, when the number of refugees was already in the hundreds, the Finnish authorities initially tried to restrict bicycles from crossing the border. When this failed, the Finnish authorities were forced to close one checkpoint after another. As The Insider was able to prove, the authorities in the Murmansk region then organized buses to transport refugees from the already closed Finnish border checkpoints to those that were still open, set up tents there and helped with warm food. As the situation threatened to spiral out of control, Finland decided on November 30 to close all border crossings until December 14, 2023. But when the border reopened two weeks later, the situation repeated itself. The road to the closed Vaalimaa border crossing between Finland and Russia in Virolahti, Finland. According to Finnish customs officials, around 1,500 refugees from the Middle East and North Africa have crossed the Russian-Finnish border to apply for asylum status in the EU since the beginning of November 2023. However, until November 2023, these refugees had to make the illegal and very dangerous route through the forests in the border area between the Republic of Belarus and Poland in order to reach the European Union. However, as The Insider found out, in November, information appeared in the relevant blogs and forums that had recently promoted the possibility of crossing the border from Belarus to Poland that a new route had been opened for refugees from Russia to Finland. A journalist from The Insider then secretly contacted a dealer named in the forums. He said that he could help with the issuance of a Russian visa. His services would cost between $3,800 and $4,200, depending on whether half of the sum was paid in advance or after arrival in Russia. Another dealer offered to issue a Russian visa for $5,000. The Insider's analysis of relevant blogs and forums revealed that the smugglers were actively recommending student visas to Russia. These cost $1,500 including guaranteed enrollment at a Russian university. An interlocutor told The Insider that applicants were admitted to Russian universities based on the average grade of their school certificate and without any knowledge of Russian. The Russian Cultural Center in Damascus served as an important contact point for a visa application. The cultural center's Telegram channel constantly publishes announcements about the recruitment of foreign students to Russian universities. However, The Insider's interlocutor never studied in Russia, but traveled directly to the Finnish border and asked for asylum. The Finnish Border Guard accompanies migrants arriving at the Raja-Jooseppi international border crossing station in Inari, northern Finland. According to The Insider, in November 2023 the Russian authorities made the decision to move refugees from the Belarusian-Polish border to the Russian-Finnish border.