DISINFO: Western bombs cause refugee surge on Russia-Finland border
SUMMARY
Western bombs caused an exodus from the Middle East. In face of the increase of refugees trying to enter the EU, Finland decided to close the border posts on Russia’s border. But these people left their homes because their countries of origin were turned into hell. It is enough to mention the presence of US projectiles among the bombs that are devastating Gaza right now. They come through Russian territory because they don’t want to die in the Mediterranean like thousands of their partners.
RESPONSE
This is part of a wider pro-Kremlin campaign aiming to instrumentalise migration as a hybrid weapon against the European Union and Finland, most likely as a retaliation for this country’s decision to join NATO.
Since late October 2023, Finland has been experiencing a sudden increase in the number of migrants and asylum seekers trying to enter the country from Russian territory. The responsibility of the Russian government in this surge is patent. Human traffickers have explained to Finnish state broadcaster Yle that they work in cooperation with the Russian authorities. When Finland closed all but one border crossing in the Arctic, Russia reacted by transporting dozens of migrants by bus to this remaining spot, as the governor of the Murmansk region Andrei Chibis announced publicly. The Finnish government has announced it is prepared to close the border if the situation deteriorate.
Mentions of the war in Gaza are an opportunistic attempt to stir up anti-Western sentiments by trying to link it to the current events on the Russian-Finnish border. No such relation exists, since most of the migrants trying to cross to Finland come from Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Turkey.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Finland organised the migration crisis as a pretext for closing borders after joining NATO, that Washington has made Finland Russia's quarrelsome neighbour, or that Finland shuts Russia border crossings as revenge for lost wars.