Russia threatens to send migrants to Finnish border, warns president

President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, warned about the threat from Russia, stating that it would only take Russians "a few hours" to move over a thousand migrants to the border with Finland. Some are allegedly already waiting for transfer near the border.

President Stubb issued this warning during an interview with Finnish television, which will be aired on Wednesday, June 26, in the evening hours on MTV3 and MTV Katsomo channels. Excerpts from the interview are already being quoted in Finnish media. "According to our intelligence, Russia is capable of sending migrants to our border," he said. "These are not traditional asylum seekers but people used as weapons, instrumentalized. Over a thousand in a few hours," declared Alexander Stubb.

Russia has brought migrants from Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Ethiopia. According to Finnish intelligence, some are already waiting for transfer near the border with Finland. The procedure Stubb refers to could resemble what has been happening for years at the border of Poland and Belarus, where migrants have been used to destabilize the region by the regimes of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.

Our task, as Finnish decision-makers and authorities, is to ensure that such actions are stopped, declared the president.

In the past, such incidents have already occurred at the Finnish-Russian border. In November last year, Finnish police used tear gas to disperse people from Syria and Iraq.

Stubb emphasized the necessity of introducing appropriate legal regulations that will allow Finnish authorities to react if thousands of migrants cross the border. The president stressed the importance of such laws, adding that their adoption is essential to ensure the safety of citizens.

The bill, which is supposed to empower the services to act, will be read for the first time in the Finnish parliament this coming Friday. If this happens, the second reading could take place on Monday, July 1.

This week, the administrative committee is meeting daily. President Stubb hopes that a majority in favor of the proposed changes can be found so the bill can come into force immediately after its approval.