Last updated on December 17, 2023
In the heart of the unforgiving Arctic wilderness that makes up Finland’s Lapland region lies the northernmost and now only active Finland-Russia border checkpoint, Raja-Jooseppi, where 55 undocumented migrants hailing from Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan arrived on the frigid doorstep of fate on Saturday. Mounted on battered bicycles and clad in threadbare sneakers, the asylum-seekers awaited entry accompanied by their only friend: the frozen wind—undoubtedly, a gripping testament to the human spirit’s indomitable will.
This latest incident is but a chapter in a seemingly escalating story, marking a broader trend. Indeed, official statistics from the Associated Press find that since August, more than 900 undocumented migrants have arrived in Finland, with more than 800 in November alone. Throughout the years, asylum-seekers have trickled up at border checkpoints in Finland, but this month saw a unique influx, purportedly instigated by Russia, prompting Finish authorities to swiftly close seven of their shared border checkpoints, leaving just one: Raja-Jooseppi.
“We have proof showing that, unlike before, not only Russian border authorities are letting people without proper documentation to the Finnish border, but they are also actively helping them to the border zone,” Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Expectedly, the Kremlin vehemently denies any involvement in assisting the migrants and has claimed it regrets the Finnish border closures. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova even asserted that Helsinki should have tried to “put forward its concerns to work out a mutually acceptable solution or receive explanation.” Nevertheless, Zakharova expressed that Russian authorities are ready and willing to cooperate with Finnish officials to reach an agreement. Indeed, on Monday, the Russian foreign ministry officially summoned the Finnish ambassador in Moscow to lodge a formal protest.
Thus, amid suspicions of Russian involvement, not only did Finland rush to close the majority of their border checkpoints, a VOA article details that Finnish border guards and soldiers began erecting concrete barriers and barbed wire along the Arctic frontier. Moreover, ABC News reports that upon Finland’s request, the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, has agreed to send dozens of officers and equipment as reinforcements.
Such a drastic response may appear unwarranted; however, for years, the West has witnessed and accused Russia of manipulating and using asylum-seekers as pawns in their great game of destabilizing Western institutions and democracy while discouraging Western expansion—a history that certainly provoked such a swift and grand Finnish response today. Indeed, in 2015 and 2016, Russia permitted and encouraged immigrants to approach the border checkpoints in northern Finland—likely a response to Finland increasing its training activities with NATO. Today, given Finland’s recent accession to NATO, some form of Russian retaliation may have been all but inevitable.
Labeled as “hybrid warfare” by the West, these manipulative tactics constitute a multifaceted tool that includes anything from disinformation, election interference, or even cyber attacks—strategies Moscow has begun to turn to in light of its war in Ukraine. Migration pressures can be a particularly potent manifestation of hybrid warfare, as it may force democracies to abandon some of their democratic commitment to giving asylum-seekers the right to seek protection, ultimately highlighting the fragility of some democracies—a devastating hit for the West in their ideological fight against the East.
Thus far, Russia’s alleged weaponization of migrants across Finland’s Arctic border has sparked a pressing debate over whether the imperative of national security takes precedence over concerns for human rights—a question that every country must ask itself, especially America, for its answer will not only determine the fates of those simply searching for a home, but perhaps democracy itself.
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