“Before Belarus, the Kremlin has already used the tactic of transferring migrants to the border in Finland and Norway” – political scientist Maria Snegovaya

Snegovaya recalled that Russia had twice successfully tested exactly the same tactic with the transfer of migrants to the borders of Finland and Norway. In 2015, more than five and a half thousand migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq used the so-called “Arctic route” through Moscow, Murmansk and Nikel to get to Norway. The stream extended to Finland as well. Then the Finnish media from the words of Russian border guards reportedthat the authorities of the Russian Federation help migrants to speed up the passage of procedures at the border. This was coordinated by the Federal Border Service with the FSB and local administrations. All border hotels in Russia were packed.

The massive transfer of refugees to Norway and the Finnish border began after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, the introduction of economic and political sanctions against Russia, to which Finland joined as a member of the European Union. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said that “Russia’s actions in Ukraine appear to be contrary to international law.”

In July 2015, relations between the countries deteriorated even more in connection with Finland’s refusal to issue entry visas at that time to the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Sergei Naryshkin and five members of the Russian delegation. All of them were supposed to take part in the session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Finland replied that those against whom EU sanctions have been imposed have not received visas. The Ambassador of Finland to Russia Hannu Himanen was told at the Russian Foreign Ministry that Finland’s actions were regarded “as openly unfriendly, inconsistent with the principles of good-neighborliness and damaging Russian-Finnish relations.”

At the same time, thousands of migrants reached the Finnish border – every week in the fall. registered an average of 4,000 asylum seekers, which previously corresponded to the number of refugees per year. As a result, in 2015, 850% more migrants arrived in the country than in previous years. A total of 32,476 people have applied for refugee status.

Finnish government spokesman Markku Mantila said that the refugee crisis on the Russian-Finnish border in 2015 was like a planned operation – then refugees suddenly began to cross the border of the two countries en masse on bicycles and old cars. “The people who appeared at the two border posts had lived in Russia for several years before. Suddenly they were required to leave the country. They were deported and they came to Finland, ”Mantila noted then.

The flow of refugees stopped only after the President of Finland arrived in Russia, who asked the Russian authorities to take control of the border. The crisis was resolved in 48 hours, and one call from Vladimir Putin was enough for this, Mantila said. By information the British edition of the Times, at the same time Finland agreed to end the freeze on bilateral relations with Russia, introduced after the annexation of Crimea.