Finland Closes 4 Russian Border Crossings

[PeterRS]

In attempt to halt the surge of asylum seekers fleeing from Russia, Finland has closed 4 of the crossings along its 1,340 km border with Russia. Around 300 have arrived this week alone. No doubt part of the reason is those Russians fearing conscription for the illegal war in Ukraine.

Finland has claimed that Russia has deliberately targeted these crossings due to Finand recently joining NATO. TASS, the Soviet New Agency, has quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov as saying -

"Russia has never in modern history threatened Finland, we had no reason for any confrontation. Now they have chosen this path. From our point of view, this is a big mistake."

Well, it may not have threatened Finland but that did not stop it making Finland part of its Empire for more than a century until 1917. This is perfectly obvious when one just wanders around Helsinki's city centre where you canot miss the Russian-built Uspenski Cathedral to look down over it in 1868.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67459141 

[KeepItReal]

11 hours ago, PeterRS said:

In attempt to halt the surge of asylum seekers fleeing from Russia, Finland has closed 4 of the crossings along its 1,340 km border with Russia. Around 300 have arrived this week alone. No doubt part of the reason is those Russians fearing conscription for the illegal war in Ukraine.

Finland has claimed that Russia has deliberately targeted these crossings due to Finand recently joining NATO. TASS, the Soviet New Agency, has quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov as saying -

"Russia has never in modern history threatened Finland, we had no reason for any confrontation. Now they have chosen this path. From our point of view, this is a big mistake."

Well, it may not have threatened Finland but that did not stop it making Finland part of its Empire for more than a century until 1917. This is perfectly obvious when one just wanders around Helsinki's city centre where you canot miss the Russian-built Uspenski Cathedral to look down over it in 1868.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67459141 

I am shocked that the asylum seekers would choose to leave Mother Russia for a bourgeois western country! 😳

[alvnv]

Peskov is full of shit - just like the rest of the Russian government. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

[unicorn]

8 hours ago, alvnv said:

Peskov is full of shit - just like the rest of the Russian government. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

It looks as though this war encouraged Hitler to invade the USSR 😕:

"...the very poor performance of the Red Army convinced Hitler that an invasion on the Soviet Union would be successful. In June 1941, Hitler declared, "we have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down"."

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, unicorn said:

 

 In June 1941, Hitler declared, "we have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down"."

That was Putin's hope as well in Feb 2022 when he invaded Ukraine

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, unicorn said:

It looks as though this war encouraged Hitler to invade the USSR 😕:

"...the very poor performance of the Red Army convinced Hitler that an invasion on the Soviet Union would be successful. In June 1941, Hitler declared, "we have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down"."

Well, that sure was one of Hitler's less accurate judgements!

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Well, that sure was one of Hitler's less accurate judgements!

Well, he got pretty close. USSR casualties were enormous, and they paid a heavy price.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-27-mn-15973-story.html

"...Paintings, drawings and diaries, some released only this month, show that cannibalism was so much a fact of everyday life that parents feared their children would be eaten if allowed out after dark...". 😬

Even Putin needs cannibals these days...

https://torontosun.com/news/world/murkiest-characters-putin-recruiting-cannibals-serial-killers-for-ukraine-war-report-claims

"Putin recruiting cannibals, serial killers for Ukraine war, report claims...".

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, unicorn said:

Well, he got pretty close. USSR casualties were enormous, and they paid a heavy price.

Yes, I did realise this. Like Napoleon, one of Hitler's armies got very close to Moscow. Napoleon actually got there but found the inhabitants gone and much of the city on fire. 

With Remembrance Sunday just a week ago, we should never forget that the Soviets lost more than 25 million people in WWII. They did indeed pay a terrible price. 

[Keithambrose]

19 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Well, that sure was one of Hitler's less accurate judgements!

One of many!

[Keithambrose]

On 11/18/2023 at 5:17 AM, PeterRS said:

In attempt to halt the surge of asylum seekers fleeing from Russia, Finland has closed 4 of the crossings along its 1,340 km border with Russia. Around 300 have arrived this week alone. No doubt part of the reason is those Russians fearing conscription for the illegal war in Ukraine.

Finland has claimed that Russia has deliberately targeted these crossings due to Finand recently joining NATO. TASS, the Soviet New Agency, has quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov as saying -

"Russia has never in modern history threatened Finland, we had no reason for any confrontation. Now they have chosen this path. From our point of view, this is a big mistake."

Well, it may not have threatened Finland but that did not stop it making Finland part of its Empire for more than a century until 1917. This is perfectly obvious when one just wanders around Helsinki's city centre where you canot miss the Russian-built Uspenski Cathedral to look down over it in 1868.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67459141 

Interestingly, my Finnish friends say that the country preferred being part of the Russian Empire, as a Grand Duchy of Russia, rather than part of Sweden. Russia took over Finland in 1809, after the Finnish war, part of the Napoleonic campaign. I am told the the Swedes, as the colonial power, were very overbearing, and refused to allow Finnish to be spoken. Strangely, perhaps, the Russians were more liberal.

[Moses]

On 11/18/2023 at 8:17 AM, PeterRS said:

In attempt to halt the surge of asylum seekers fleeing from Russia, Finland has closed 4 of the crossings along its 1,340 km border with Russia. Around 300 have arrived this week alone. No doubt part of the reason is those Russians fearing conscription for the illegal war in Ukraine.

 

On 11/18/2023 at 7:20 PM, KeepItReal said:

I am shocked that the asylum seekers would choose to leave Mother Russia for a bourgeois western country!

The only one thing what is not published here: nationalities of refuges

Syrians, Iranians, Afghani, Somalians and citizens of other countries in Africa. It is officially stated in press-release of Finish border guard service https://raja.fi/en/-/more-asylum-seekers-than-usual-have-arrived-at-the-border-of-southeast-finland-without-required-travel-documents

Quote

These persons are citizens of third countries and have used Russia for transit.

 

Yesterday Finland send army to border and already used tear gas against refugees. Russian border guards do not intervene into this problem since refugees are legally arrived to Russia and legally leaving it. Sometimes traffic is up to 200 persons per day.

 

 

 

Also it became problem for citizens of Finland who has relatives in Russia - they held meeting today in Helsinki, because they lost possibility to visit their relatives in Russia.

 

[Department_Of_Agriculture]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

The only one thing what is not published here: nationalities of refuges

Syrians, Iranians, Afghani, Somalians and citizens of other countries in Africa. It is officially stated in press-release of Finish border guard service https://raja.fi/en/-/more-asylum-seekers-than-usual-have-arrived-at-the-border-of-southeast-finland-without-required-travel-documents

An excellent post from Moses, revealing, yet again, the ignorance and prejudice of the usual long-winded windbag in the opening post.

[PeterRS]

39 minutes ago, Department_Of_Agriculture said:

the usual long-winded windbag in the opening post.

And how many times do posters here have to write to remind other posters that they do not have read anything that is posted nor agree with points in such posts? If they are bored by one poster's post, move on!

And of course @Department_Of_Agriculture failed to note my statement added, "No doubt part of the reason . . ."

[PeterRS]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

Yesterday Finland send army to border and already used tear gas against refugees. Russian border guards do not intervene into this problem since refugees are legally arrived to Russia and legally leaving it. Sometimes traffic is up to 200 persons per day.

Another post by Moses which does not reflect all the facts. And if he had actually read the link he provided he would surely have noted this -

"Previously, Russian authorities have not allowed travel from Russia to Finnish border crossing points, if the passenger has not had the required travel documents. In recent months, the actions of the Russian authorities have changed, at least on the border with Southeastern Finland. Unlike before, they have allowed travel despite lack of documents."

So, as for the suggestion now that "Russian guards do not interfere", certainly some Russians officials are definitely interfering, for as the above from Moses' own link makes clear, the majority of immigrants which have recently flowed through the four now-closed border crossings had no documents! You cannot leave a country without proper documentation! As stated in the Financial times on November 14 -

“The number has grown significantly in a short time,” said Mari Rantanen, Finland’s interior minister. “Russian authorities have changed the way they work to allow travel to Finland despite a lack of documents, which is illegal entry.” 

https://www.ft.com/content/f25a852d-5074-445b-b088-7989a892c7ff

There is also no denying that since near the start of the war in Ukraine, many young Russian men have been using a variety of countries to escape the draft of men into the Soviet army, including Finland. Numbers may have dropped but last year over a 2 weeks period 59,975 Russians crossed into Finland and 23,859 failed to return. No doubt some had visas for Finland and some moved on to other countries. But in such a short space of time it marked a major outflow of Russian citizens.

From Sept. 21 to Oct. 5, 59,975 Russians arrived in Finland through the four checkpoints, with many leaving to other European countries, while 36,116 Russians went home, Finnish border guard authority data showed on Oct. 5.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/where-have-russians-been-fleeing-since-mobilisation-began-2022-10-06/

Since the start of the illegal Ukraine War, Forbes estimates that between 600,000 and 1 million citizens fled Russia in 2022 alone. These figures are backed up by popular Russian-language media The Bell and RTVi.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65790759

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

One of many!

Yes , Thousand Years Reich lasted only 12

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, Moses said:

Syrians, Iranians, Afghani, Somalians and citizens of other countries in Africa.

I wonder why they don't want to stay in Russia - so much space there and not as cold as Finland. And after Wagner's  adventures in Africa no doubt very welcoming to Africans too.

[PeterRS]

37 minutes ago, vinapu said:

I wonder why they don't want to stay in Russia - so much space there and not as cold as Finland. And after Wagner's  adventures in Africa no doubt very welcoming to Africans too.

FInland is not really cold in the southern parts in the summer. But its really freezing north of the Arctic Circle.

I think I have mentioned before that I visited the Soviet Union three times and since then Russia twice. Apart from the weather in what was then Leningrad in late December when milder air had turned the snow into grey slush, I always enjoyed my visits. My first to Red Square with light snow on a February morning was stunning. You could feel the history of that magnificent space. So much to see in Moscow, and I even got to a concert in the famous Tchaikovsy Hall at the Moscow Conservatory. Cocktails with friends in the circular bar atop the Swissotel afterwards were perfect, the more so with so many cute waiters. But I was told by ours that the amazing boys behind the bar who seemed masters at the art of making cocktails were mostly Czech.

St. Petersburg was even more stunning when I saw it in beautiful August weather. I wish I had had more than five nights. Although I am a committed Asian lover, some of the University students were extremely attractive. Were the political situation not so difficult, I would certainly return.

[Moses]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

"Previously, Russian authorities have not allowed travel from Russia to Finnish border crossing points, if the passenger has not had the required travel documents. In recent months, the actions of the Russian authorities have changed, at least on the border with Southeastern Finland. Unlike before, they have allowed travel despite lack of documents."

Russia does proper check as usual - in airports of leaving, on train stations and on bus stations. Nobody will sell them tickets to Finland without proper documents.

That why they are using bicycles and scooters for to avoid to be stopped. When refugee is on the border point he cannot be legally stopped by Russian border guard - person wants to leave country and his Russian visa is legal, so he has rights to leave Russia. It isn't business of Russian border guard to check if person has rights to enter Finland.

 

[Moses]

And, by the way: it isn't first crisis on RU-FI border. In 2015/2016 there was also the same crisis and Finland had to close borders too.

https://time.com/4268754/finland-russia-border-restrict-migrants/

[PeterRS]

23 minutes ago, Moses said:

Russia does proper check as usual - in airports of leaving, on train stations and on bus stations. Nobody will sell them tickets without proper documents.

That why they are using bicycles and scooters for to avoid to be stopped. When refugee is on the border point he cannot be legally stopped by Russian border guard - person wants to leave country and his Russian visa is legal, so he has rights to leave Russia. It isn't business of Russian border guard to check if person has rights to enter Finland.

Well, you have your version. The FInland government authorities have a totally different cersion.I know who I believe.

[Moses]

23 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

I know who I believe.

Who cares?

Russian border guards now mind own business. And since Finland makes no official claims or protests, looks like Russian border guards make their job correctly.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, Moses said:

Russia does proper check as usual - in airports of leaving, on train stations and on bus stations. Nobody will sell them tickets to Finland without proper documents.

 

of course,  unless boss tell them to do.

Not to mention time honored and well rehearsed solution - slipping 1000 ruble or whatever note in something looking like  document from behind.

 

 

[Moses]

56 minutes ago, vinapu said:

of course,  unless boss tell them to do.

no chances... if they will sell tickets - then they will pay for to their tickets back from border to Russia... it is the same reason why all airlines check visas - visas aren't their business, but in case or rejecting airlines will pay for return tickets from own pocket...

 

[Moses]

The current fuss at the border is due to the fact that Finland abandoned the agreement with Russia, according to which Russian border guards did not allow citizens to pass without Finnish visas.

Until recently, there was nothing for refugees on Russian border, if there is no Schengen in passport - goodbye. And now Russian border guards are not obliged to think for the Finnish side, so they let everyone who asks to cross the cordon pass. At the same time, the scale of the “flow” of illegal immigrants cannot be compared with how many people Finland received from other directions. Finnish political scientist Johan Beckman spoke about this to the “Five Corners” program on the radio 92.0 FM.

Finnish media write that Russia is allegedly conducting some kind of operation. “It’s all fantasy,” he said. - We see dozens of refugees. Such numbers mean nothing. In 2016, tens of thousands of refugees from Sweden arrived in Finland. And no one wanted to close the border.

Accepting these people is Finland's obligation under international treaties, which it itself has signed. But I think that nothing will change. The voices of the protesters who were inconvenienced and businesses disrupted will not be heard. The decision is made in Washington. This is NATO's eastern border. The goal is to organize tension and then close the border.

[alvnv]

I think the truth is much simpler: Russia is a horrible neighbor!