DISINFO: Finland organised the migration crisis as a pretext for closing borders after joining NATO
SUMMARY
Finland has closed its four busiest border crossings with Russia. Helsinki's decision is officially motivated by increased irregular migration, but is that the only reason?
This decision is surprising because there were only 300 people from Africa applying for refugee status in Finland. They arrived quite surprisingly, by car to the border post, and then reportedly provided with bicycles, which they used to reach the Finnish border post. A report also mentioned that the cars transporting the migrants had Finnish registration plates. Instead of simply closing the border to migrants, they have closed all traffic in both directions, including freight, which is not related to immigration.
In this global world, closing a border is frowned upon. Except when it comes to Russia, the enemy. This border must be established and be airtight. Finland has joined NATO, relations with Russia are no longer permitted.
RESPONSE
Disinformation narrative about the events that have unfolded on the border between Finland and Russia, which resulted in Finland temporarily closing some border crossing with Russia on 16 November 2023 after a steep rise in asylum seekers.
As explained by the Guardian, "On Wednesday the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, vowed “very clear action” over the arrivals, which, according to the border guard authority, have been steadily growing along the border in south-east Finland in recent days.
Russian border guards usually stop people without valid EU visas from crossing into Finland. But on Wednesday Niinistö said he believed Russia had started guiding asylum seekers towards Finnish crossing points in retaliation for Helsinki’s plans to sign a defence cooperation agreement with Washington".
No credible evidence is provided to back up the disinfo claims that this crisis was organised by Finland itself to isolate Russia following the former's accession to NATO other than a misleading report from Russian based outlet Fontanka.
Finland is a sovereign state, which decides its own foreign and domestic policies.
The Kremlin's disinformation machine was quick to start pushing various disinformation narratives about this situation as summarised in this article (in Finnish).
See similar cases on Finland such as Finland shuts Russia border crossings as revenge for lost wars and Finland’s sealing of Russia border is illegal and ordered by the US.
Read also cases such as: Thousands of migrants were killed in Poland, Polish soldiers carried out mass executions of migrants at the Belarusian border, Polish border guards shot about 20 migrants per day on Belarus border.