was looking for people aspiring to Finland in Murmansk. At the same time, the governor of the region said that some of those who wanted to go to Finland will now be transported to St. Petersburg.
MURMANSK The daycare gates were closed and only one window had a light flickering.
According to information on social media, this address was supposed to be a temporary accommodation for citizens of Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries who had not made it across the border before Finland closed the Salla border crossing.
While we were photographing the building, a woman came from the house next door to ask what we were doing. He said that a temporary accommodation for migrants is indeed planned for the place, and hoped that it would not be needed. He did not want to comment further.
Governor of Murmansk Andrei Chibis announced earlier that the authorities will establish temporary accommodation in Kantalahti, i.e. Kandalakša, Zverosovhos and Murmansk.
Most obviously, however, the convoy had not arrived in Murmansk.
Earlier we visited the settlement center of Zverosovhos near Murmansk.
The employee at the local cultural center didn’t know anything about it, but a young man playing ping-pong guided us to a nearby gym. No one was accommodated there yet either, but preparations had reportedly been made.
Governor Chibis announced later on Friday, that 55 of the foreign citizens who sought the Salla border crossing would be directed to Finland and almost 200 to St. Petersburg.
According to the governor, the latter had themselves decided to stay in Russia and have the documents that entitle them to do so.
It is hard to know how voluntarily all this has happened.
The movement of immigrants in the region has not necessarily been to the liking of the regional authorities. They are trying to reassure the citizens: the situation is under the control of the authorities.
Discussion boards have seen sour citizen comments about official activities and questions about how people traveling with empty papers have reached areas where even Russians themselves are not allowed without a permit.
A state of heightened readiness has been declared for the Murmansk region.
However, we did not see the additional checkpoints in and around Murmansk that had been reported in the local news.
Perhaps the authorities consider it a sufficient deterrent that it is about a four-hour drive from Murmansk to the Raja-Joosep border crossing along a snowy road along which there is not much population.
There is only one village in the vicinity of the Russian Lota border station, whose population is reported to be five people.
On Friday, a total of three asylum seekers arrived in Raja-Jooseppi.