Finland closed the border crossings in Nuijamaa, Vaalimaa, Niirala and Imatra on the night between Friday and Saturday.
Of the approximately 700 asylum seekers who arrived across the eastern border during the fall, approximately 500 have arrived during November.
At the end of the week, more than a hundred asylum seekers from Russia have come to Finland.
1. How many asylum seekers have crossed the Russian border?
Since the beginning of August, approximately 700 asylum seekers have crossed the eastern border from Russia without a visa.
Most of them have come to Finland through the four border stations in Southeast Finland.
The State Council announced last Thursday that Finland will close its four southernmost border posts at Nuijamaa, Vaalimaa, Niirala and Imatra this weekend.
After this, asylum seekers started coming to Kuhmo Vartius. By Monday, a total of around 120 of them had come, 16 of them on Monday.
Asylum seekers also came to Salla today. 35 people crossed the border on bicycles.
– The matter is being investigated. It is not yet clear whether all arrivals will apply for asylum in Finland, deputy commander, lieutenant colonel Ville Ahtiainen Lapland’s border guard reported in the afternoon.
During the fall, no asylum seekers have come to Salla before Monday.
– The situation in Southeast Finland is calm. Regarding Salla and Vartius, we are able to control the situation, says the border security specialist of the Border Guard, major Jouni Lahtinen.
2. Has the Finnish Immigration Service already processed the applications?
Director of the asylum unit of the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri). Antti Lehtinen says that Migri has made its first decisions on the asylum applications of those who came across the eastern border in the fall.
– Individual decisions have been made. The decisions have been negative, says Lehtinen.
The Finnish Immigration Service does not say why it has made a negative decision or from which country the person who received the negative decision came from.
According to Lehtinen, a negative decision is made if “there is no basis for international protection”.
He says that the international need for protection means that “the person is in danger at home”. Instead, for example, “economic reasons” are not grounds for protection.
According to Migri, the applications of the last few weeks have not yet been resolved, but interviews with asylum seekers are ongoing.
3. Where will the asylum seekers be returned if there is a negative decision?
The Finnish Immigration Service processes the applications of asylum seekers who came across the eastern border in the so-called normal process.
However, some applications end up in the accelerated procedure.
– Applications that, according to preliminary information, do not have grounds for international protection end up in the accelerated process, says Antti Lehtinen, director of the asylum unit of the Finnish Immigration Service.
Lehtinen emphasizes that each application is processed individually.
If the person receives a negative decision, a decision on conversion is made at the same time.
The recipient of a negative decision can apply to the administrative court for a ban on enforcement and appeal the decision.
Where will the asylum seekers who came across the eastern border from Russia be returned if they receive a negative decision?
– The police are responsible for conversion. They will be returned to their home country, says Lehtinen.
4. What is known about the nationalities of asylum seekers?
According to the Finnish Immigration Service, the asylum seekers who came to Finland in early autumn represented more than 30 nationalities.
For example, they were from Morocco, Ethiopia, Egypt and Yemen.
At the beginning of November, the situation changed.
– After that, the nationalities of Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Iraq began to be emphasized among the asylum seekers, says Antti Lehtinen, head of Migri’s asylum unit.
According to the Finnish Immigration Service, the majority of asylum seekers are men between the ages of 20 and 30.
Dozens of women arrived at Kuhmo Vartius between last Thursday and Sunday. There was one family with two children.
– Those who came to the guard were usually in good shape, but sometimes hungry and tired from the journey, the head of the border station, the captain Jouko Kinnunen tells.
Some of the asylum seekers who came to Finland have lived in Russia for a long time, studied or worked there. Some have only come to Russia in recent months.
5. How have asylum seekers come to Finland?
At the Vartius border station in Kuhmo, it has been observed that asylum seekers are being brought to the Russian side of the border in vehicles.
– The Russian border authorities push them into the border area and close the iron gates. They can’t get to the Russian side anymore, the head of the border station, Jouko Kinnunen, says.
After that, the visitors arrive a short distance to the Finnish border on bicycles or kick boards.
– Bringing people to the Russian border involves issues related to a criminal investigation and we cannot say more about it now, the deputy commander of the Kainuu border guard, lieutenant colonel Tomi Tirkkonen tells.
From the Vartius border station, asylum seekers are taken by bus to a hall located a couple of kilometers away, where they receive food and can undergo a health check if necessary.
From there, they are taken to reception centers within the same day, which are located nearby in Oulu and Joutseno, for example.
6. Who is responsible for asylum seekers if Finland closes the entire eastern border?
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in Kuhmo on Monday that Finland is ready to close the entire eastern border.
– If there is no change in this situation, we will quickly take further measures if necessary, threatened Orpo.
If Finland decides to close its entire eastern border, and if Russia continues to allow asylum seekers into the area between the borders, the asylum seekers may get stuck there.
Do we leave these people in the cold, Prime Minister Orpo was asked?
– We are trying to ensure that these people do not come, Orpo said and did not answer the question directly.
Jouni Lahtinen, director of border security at the Finnish Border Guard, stated to earlier in the day that Russia is responsible for the situation.
– The responsibility lies with those who organize this.
According to Lahtinen, people in particularly vulnerable situations, such as children, are taken into account in all situations.
– If there are those in a particularly vulnerable position, such as children, their right to apply for international protection is taken into account in all situations.
– We have trained and instructed our personnel to identify those in a particularly vulnerable position.
7. Have any persons with a military background come to Finland?
Speaker of the Parliament, presidential candidate of the fundamental Finns Jussi Halla-aho asked on Sunday in the message service X, how can we be sure that there are no Russian special forces or Wagner’s mercenaries among the arrivals.
According to the Finnish Immigration Service, no indications of the entry of persons with a military background have been detected.
– Until now, there have been no indications of this, says Antti Lehtinen, director of the asylum unit of the Finnish Immigration Service.
The same is told to by the staff of the Border Guard.
– We have no indications of this whatsoever, says Major, border security expert Jouni Lahtinen.
The protection police commented to that applying for asylum “is not the most effective way to avoid” the interest of the receiving country’s security authorities.
According to Supo, however, there may be people who have other motives than the need for asylum.
The protection police said that they are constantly following the backgrounds of asylum seekers.
Supo gives the Finnish Immigration Service a statement if it thinks that an asylum seeker is endangering national security.