Finland is now accusing Russia of making its asylum seeker crisis worse, claiming that the Russian government is sending more migrants as an act of revenge.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto shared this opinion after a Finnish border guard confirmed that asylum seekers at the border crossing points in south-east Finland have further increased in the past few days. Now, what will Niinisto do to fix this issue? Here's what the Finnish leader said.
Finland Blames Russia for Asylum Seeker Crisis
Syrian refugees; The Asaaid Alkhateb family wait to board a bus in early morning hours on their way to take a special charter flight for Finland on October 31, 2016 in Athens, Greece. The Asaaid Alkhateb family will travel to Finland amongst 110 Syrian refugees leaving Greece.
According to The Guardian's latest report, Niinisto believes that Russia is sending more asylum seekers to Finland's southeast border crossing points because of the country's cooperation with the U.S.
He said that because the Kremlin wants to have its revenge against Finland, it is sending more migrants to negatively affect the European country's economy.
On Wednesday, Nov. 15, the Finnish president accused the Russian government of guiding asylum seekers toward Finnish crossing points.
Sauli said that the Kremlin is doing this to retaliate against Helsinki's plans to sign a defense cooperation agreement with the U.S. government.
"I think that this time, maybe it was the DCA [defense cooperation agreement] that triggered the situation," explained the Finnish president.
"I don't see the border traffic ending in any other way than with very clear Finnish action," he added.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied Sauli's accusations, saying that his comments are absolutely groundless.
Meanwhile, Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that they are regretting the decision of Finland to distance itself from good bilateral relations it had with Russia.
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How Finland Deals With Asylum Seekers
A man stands at the border between Russia and Finland at the Nuijamaa border check point in Lappeenranta, Finland on November 15, 2023. Finland said on November 14, 2023 it is considering closing its border crossings with Russia, accusing Moscow of deliberately turning a blind eye to illegal migrants.
The Associated Press reported that Finland is considering closing some of its border crossing points to ease the migrant crisis it faces.
This effort is expected to prevent asylum seekers from Russia from trying to enter without proper documentation.
Before the Russia-Ukraine war happened, Finnish and Russian border officials had been cooperating to prevent migrants without necessary passports or visas from entering Russia and Finland.
However, after Finland started cooperating with the U.S. and joining NATO, Russia allegedly began allowing undocumented asylum seekers to access the border zone and enter crossing stations.
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