Baltic States/Finland – After organising – through Belarus – the mass arrival of illegal migrants on the Polish and Lithuanian borders, which eventually led Warsaw and Vilnius to build a border fence, Moscow is now playing this game with Latvia and Finland.
Latvia closed two border crossings with Russia
It was for this reason that the Latvian authorities decided in mid-October to close the border crossings with Russia at Vientuļi and Pededze, while Latvian radio also reported an increase in the number of people attempting to enter the country illegally from Belarus. According to the Latvian Minister of the Interior, Rihards Kozlovskis, “We are in a real hybrid war situation.” Anyway, due to the Russian war against Ukraine, Latvia had already imposed a ban on entry on most Russian and Belarussian nationals on September 19, 2022, which was set to remain effective until June 30, 2023 and was extended until March 2024.
Situation also tense at the border with Belarus
The situation is also tense on the border between Latvia and Belarus, where Latvian border guards turned back no fewer than 13,783 people attempting to cross illegally into the country in 2023 (compared with 5,286 the previous year). It is for this reason that the Latvian authorities have put in place and extended several times a reinforced regime for the operation of the border guard system in the border zone since August 2021. These measures will remain in force until at least February 2024, while the border guards also received support from the Latvian army and police and the border crossing of Silene has been closed.
Finland closed all border crossings with Russia until 14 December
However, Latvia has no plans to completely close the border with Russia and Belarus for the time being, although the authorities in Riga are monitoring developments on the Finnish-Russian border, where the problem has recently shifted. However, Latvia has no plans to completely close the border with Russia and Belarus for the time being, although the authorities in Riga are monitoring developments on the Finnish-Russian border, where the problem has recently shifted. On Tuesday 28 November, Finland announced that it had closed its last border crossing with Russia until at least 14 December.
According to a Finnish government memorandum, „the Russian authorities actively authorise or encourage the phenomenon from the countries of origin to the Finnish border. Social media and underlying criminality help to enable and intensify the phenomenon. Potentially instrumentalised migrants continue to arrive in north-west Russia despite the restrictive measures taken by Finland. There are arrivals from several countries. […] Negotiations at regional level with the Russian authorities have so far failed to find a solution and stabilise the situation at the border”.
