EU sends border police reinforcements to Finland over fears that Russia is behind a migrant influx
EU sends border police reinforcements to Finland over fears that Russia is behind a migrant influx
The European Union’s border agency says that it will send dozens of officers and equipment as reinforcements to Finland to help police its borders amid suspicion that Russia is behind an influx of migrants arriving to the country.
The European Union’s border agency said Thursday that it will send dozens of officers and equipment as reinforcements to Finland to help police its borders amid suspicion that Russia is behind an influx of migrants arriving to the country.
Frontex said that it expects a “significant reinforcement” made up of 50 border guard officers and other staff, along with patrol cars and additional equipment, to be put in place as soon as next week.
More than 800 migrants without proper visas and documentation have arrived in Finland so far since August, with more than 700 in November alone by the end of Wednesday — compared to a few dozen in September and October. They include people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Kenya, Morocco and Somalia.
This strategy is clever in the short term, given the lines of attack they're leaning on in the information side of the war. What makes no sense though, is those people are exactly what Russia needs to fix its demographics problem.
Those people are population, potential labor and soldiers. Yeah, I understand, they want them to be Russian, not foreigners. But, y'know, Russification is kinda a thing. So, why aren't they integrating this population as a resource and trying to Russify it, and instead just wasting it by using it as a piece for short-term political pressure? And then trying to patch up demographics by asking women to have more kids...?
I mean, in the long term this is just a drop in the bucket of European debates about immigration policy.
Those people are population, potential labor and soldiers.
Logistically, you are right, Russia is down a population size of about 2 million from the start of the war. Worse is that those are mostly going to be trade skill and factory workers.
That being said, I think Putin is seeing those immigrants as more of an unstable element. In that those migrants might give your population ideas... like separation, leaving too, rebellion, or resistance. Which for a repressed Russia, would be a like lighting a match on a powder keg.
As much as Russia needs the extra manpower, I think Russia can't afford the potential of an insurrection.
They don't want to stay in Russia, that's why. When Belarus sent migrants over their border they specifically promised them they would get them into the EU and flew them out from the middle east.
This strategy is clever in the short term, given the lines of attack they’re leaning on in the information side of the war.
I rather think it's based on KGB-style misunderstanding of the liberal mindset: The intended goal seems to be either a) cause overload of the asylum system, distracting the country, and/or b) cause internal division in the country, xenophobes vs. liberals. What they just can't fathom is, as happened not just in Poland but also with the rest of Europe's reaction to what the Poles did, c) everyone putting the blame squarely on Russia. Because no matter how much a liberal's heart may bleed what's worse is abusing vulnerable people for your bullshit and discouraging that by putting up a hard front is more important than the fucked situation the people themselves are in because the state of the system is more important than random acts of charity. Really, tl;dr: It's a bad move to negotiate with terrorists. Always.
Just fascists doing fascist things. Don't expect any of it to make sense.
I think it's insane. People are trying to escape the regime and it's being treated like Russia is sending them out on purpose. Let the people leave. They're just people for fucks sake.
Sounds like a situation at Poland-Belarus border. Using people basically as pawns :(
Where did Russia get the migrants tho? And how did they get them into Finland? Trebuchet?
Visa free transit. They arrive by plane, boat, road, etc. IRC they bussed them to the border in Belarus.
If it's anything like the Belarus situation they had their embassies abroad advertise that they'll get people into the EU. Essentially state-sponsored human trafficking.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Frontex said that it expects a “significant reinforcement” made up of 50 border guard officers and other staff, along with patrol cars and additional equipment, to be put in place as soon as next week.
Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said that sending border reinforcements is “a demonstration of the European Union’s unified stand against hybrid challenges affecting one of its members.”
Finland has nine crossing points on the border with Russia, which runs 1,340 kilometers (830 miles) and serves as the EU’s easternmost frontier as well as a significant part of NATO’s northeastern flank.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said this week that the challenges on Finland’s border gave her a feeling of “deja vu,” two years after Belarus began driving migrants into Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in what European officials said was an attempt to destabilize the 27-nation bloc.
Most of the migrants — many seen wearing sneakers in Finland’s harsh winter conditions — are young men in their 20s and 30s, but some are families with children and women, border guard data and photos indicate.
Estonia, Russia’s Baltic neighbor, has also seen a recent surge in number of migrants attempting to enter the country through a crossing point in the border city of Narva.
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