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.

  • vlad@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    615·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • Candelestine@lemmy.worldEnglish
      183·
      1 year ago

      These aren’t Russian citizens, they’re people from elsewhere in the world that ended up in Russia. They’re essentially trafficking victims.

      If they were Russian citizens, then they could just be conscripted.

      • Omniraptor@lemm.eeEnglish
        54·
        1 year ago

        So if they’re not even Russian then how are they a ‘security threat’? Why keep them out?? I’ll be honest this just looks like the typical white supremacist anti immigrant bs I usually see from westerners. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best.” etc

        • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
          22·
          1 year ago

          Who said they’re a security threat? And why let them in when they’re in a country which invited them over? They’re Russia’s responsibility.

          • Omniraptor@lemm.eeEnglish
            41·
            1 year ago

            I mean they clearly don’t want to be in Russia themselves. Same as how not everyone coming in from Mexico is Mexican.

            • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
              22·
              1 year ago

              If this is anything like the Belarus situation (which I assume) then people were brought there on the promise of getting into the EU and, when that didn’t materialise, weren’t given the opportunity to leave Russia via any other means: They were bussed to the EU border and told to walk towards it and worse:

              A group of Yazidi migrants complained to reporters that they were beaten by Belarusian border guards when they tried to return to Iraq after an unsuccessful attempt to sneak to Poland. The guards, according to these people, forced them to stay on the border.

              Also:

              Belarusian authorities refused to accept the Polish humanitarian aid intended for migrants who got stuck on the Belarusian-Polish border at least twice, in August and October.

              Reactions, btw, included Iraq and Turkey suspending flights to Belarus.