200 migrants who tried to get to Finland will remain in Russia

200 migrants from different countries who tried to get to Finland from the Russian side will remain in Russia. This was announced by the governor of the Murmansk region, Andrey Chibys. According to him, the migrants themselves expressed such a desire, and they have permits to stay in the country. They will be taken by bus to St. Petersburg.

Chibys described the situation that has developed in the last day at the Salla border crossing in the Kandalaksh district of the Murmansk region. He said that by the evening of November 23, there were about 400 foreigners who wanted to get asylum in Finland, but by Friday evening the situation at the border had been settled.

He also added that out of those migrants who wanted to enter Finland through “Salla”, 58 people managed to do so before the checkpoint was closed. Another 55 foreign citizens will be transported from there to the only remaining open border crossing from Russia to Finland – “Lotta” (from the Finnish side – “Raya-Jooseppi”) in the Kola district, where they will be able to try to cross the border again.

The Finnish authorities decided to close all border crossings with Russia, except for the northernmost “Lotta”-“Raya Jooseppa” from November 24, due to the influx of asylum seekers from third countries, mainly from Africa and the Middle East. Helsinki believes that the Russian authorities condone the passage of migrants to the border with Finland. This was announced by the head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Elina Valtonen, Reuters reports. The Kremlin denies these charges.

On Friday, three people who asked for asylum in Finland crossed the border at the last working checkpoint “Lotta”-“Raya-Jooseppi”. However, the country’s authorities do not exclude that there may be more applicants in the coming days and weeks. Finland’s Minister of the Interior, Mari Rantanen, announced that the government would create centers for the temporary reception of asylum seekers in the cities of Joutseno and Oulu in the north of the country – the closest to Raya Jooseppa.

• Over the past few months, several thousand foreigners who do not have the necessary documents have tried to enter Finland from Russia.
• At the beginning of 2023, Finland began the construction of barrier structures along the border with Russia, fearing that the Russian side could facilitate the penetration of migrants from third countries across the border. A similar migration crisis already took place in 2021, when thousands of migrants from the countries of Africa and the Middle East tried to get from the territory of Belarus to Poland and then to other countries of the European Union.