Finland prepares for migrant 'weaponisation' threat from Russia
President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, has warned of a potential threat from Russia. He stated that it would take "a few hours" for Russia to move over a thousand migrants to the border with Finland. Some migrants are reportedly already waiting to be transferred near the border.
The President of Finland issued this warning during an interview with Finnish television. The interview will be broadcast on Wednesday, 26 June, during the evening hours on MTV3 and MTV Katsomo. However, excerpts are already being cited in the Finnish media. - According to our intelligence, Russia is capable of sending migrants to our border who are not traditional asylum seekers but people used as weapons, instrumentalised. Over a thousand within a few hours declared Alexander Stubb.
Russia has brought migrants from Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Ethiopia. Finnish intelligence indicates that some are already waiting to be transferred near the border with Finland. The process Stubb refers to could resemble what has been happening on the Polish-Belarusian border for years, destabilised using migrants 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, the president declared.
In the past, there have been incidents of this kind on the Finland-Russia border. In November last year, Finnish police used tear gas to disperse people from Syria and Iraq.
Finland fears for the situation at the border with Russia
Stubb emphasised that it is necessary to introduce appropriate legal regulations to enable Finnish authorities to act if thousands of migrants cross the border. The president stressed the importance of such laws, adding that their adoption is essential to ensuring the safety of citizens.
The bill, which is supposed to enable the services to act, is to be read for the first time in the Finnish parliament next Friday. If this happens, the second reading could take place on Monday, 1 July.
This week, the administrative committee meets every weekday. President Stubb hopes to find a majority for the proposed changes, and the law will come into force as soon as it is approved.
