Migrants are recruited into the Russian army when they try to get to Finland

Migrants trying to get to Finland from the territory of Russia are recruited into the Russian army under the threat of deportation. At least two such cases became known to the Russian service of the BBC and human rights defenders working with refugees.

Interviewed by journalists, a migrant from Somalia (the authors of the material gave him the pseudonym Awad), who flew to Russia in July of this year, claims that after an unsuccessful attempt to reach Poland through Belarus, he tried to get to Finland from St. Petersburg, but was detained on the way to the border with an overdue visa.

According to Awad, in the Russian temporary detention center he and 11 other foreigners who were there were offered to “work for the state”. Some “people in uniform” communicated with them, who offered a one-year contract “with training and various options” and a good salary.

Avad said that those who agreed to such a proposal were brought to a camp on the border with Ukraine. There they refused the contracts, after which they began to threaten them, and then promised to return them to temporary detention centers and expel them from Russia.

A man from Iraq told human rights activists about a similar demand for recruitment. According to him, his visa ran out and he decided to go to Finland and ask for asylum, but he was detained. “Then they offered a choice: either to become mercenaries, or to return to Iraq and be banned from entering Russia for five years,” Russian BBC quotes the words of the refugee.

The Polish human rights organization Hope and Humanity does not know whether he agreed to the offer.

The Russian authorities allow foreigners to enter into contracts for service in the army, with the emphasis on recruitment being made on citizens of neighboring states. Foreigners, including those from outside the post-Soviet countries, were also previously recruited to PMC “Wagner”. There is a known case of the death of a Zambian citizen recruited into this structure.

The other day it became known about the death of six citizens of Nepal who fought in the ranks of the Russian army during the war in Ukraine.

• 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.
• At the end of November, Finland announced the closure of all nine checkpoints on the border with Russia due to the situation with migrants. Yesterday it became known about the intention of the Finnish authorities to reopen border crossings from mid-December.