Crossing the Border from Russia to Finland and Estonia: Not as Easy as You Think
Immigrants from Africa and Mid-East being used by Russia the way Florida and Texas use the ones from South America
I used to cross into Estonia once a year, at a minimum, on the train and then the bus. Because of Putin’s threats against Estonia in the early 2000s, train service was canceled.
I was going to Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, for a «visa run.» Each year, before Russia came up with multi-year visas, foreigners had to leave the country to make new ones. My trek to Estonia was usually in the cold and dark of January. It was always a joy escaping the chaos and aggression of Russia. With Tallinn expressing itself via the twinkling lights leftover from the Christmas just passed and the freshly fallen snow crunching underfoot, slipping and sliding through the winding streets of the magical, medieval town was like a massage for the soul.
The delicate eternity of Tallinn, however, was a delight one had to earn. Making it to the city and out of Russia meant that fighting your way out of the ugliness of Ivangorod was necessary. A closed Russian border town that served as a buffer between “freedom” and cultural “mind f******,” the latter which sadly characterizes pretty much everything about life in Russia. As Russians like to say, even with a bit of pride, “everything in Russia is against the people,” which means you must find a way to fight back and chalk up a lifetime of small wins.
From the moment the bus or car — I even dared to drive across the border a handful of times — passed the armed guards who, after checking all of your documents at least a dozen times more than Santa checked his lists for the naughty and nice, the “shlagbaum,” or gate, was ceremoniously lifted and the vehicle was permitted to pass.
Entry into the end of the earth, or Russia, almost always had a pricetag. The police understood that soon you would be out of their vile reach, and they also knew that if you were leaving, then there was probably a fair amount of cash on your person. The Russian tax would be exacted. Escaping to Finland is less dramatic, but there are guard posts along the road to the border, and payments at those posts were also exacted.
I tell you all this just to show how it is utterly impossible for anyone to show up at the Russian-Finnish border without proper documentation and money. The only way a group of Somalians — humans with black skin (most Russians regard black skin as a sign that the person is up to no good and should be harassed)— could ever end up seeking entry into Finland is if the Russian government greenlighted their passage through the country.
Finland will close four crossing points on its long border with Russia to stop the flow of Middle Eastern and African migrants that it accuses Moscow of ushering to the border in recent months, the government said Thursday.
He referred to dozens of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, who have arrived in the Nordic nation over recent days without proper documentation and have sought asylum after allegedly being helped by Russian authorities to travel to the heavily controlled border zone (Finland Will Close 4 Border Crossings).
It’s sad that fascists like the leaders of Russia and the governors of America’s red states think that it’s acceptable to so coldly use suffering humans and desperate humans to further their agendas of hate.
Russia’s abuse of the migrants entering the country from the South and then being channeled out of the country through the North into Finland also occurred in the early days of the Syrian civil war in 2015. I don’t doubt that Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott learned their skills for abusing suffering humans from Putin; after all, they are Trumpists, and we all know the relationship between Trump’s White House and the Kremlin.
Nonetheless, it boggles the mind that in 2023, American politicians would be mirroring the actions of a Russian dictator. A lot has changed since the fall of the Soviet Union, and I am one of those people who struggles to comprehend that parts of the United States of America are more like Russia today than they are like America 40 years ago.
It’s shocking, really. But then again, there are a lot of seriously dumb people in our country, thanks to the right-wing that consistently weakens education and links everything to the Bible and social and political issues — kind of like what Russia has done forever.
See how it all eventually blends and mixes so nicely together, and the super glue for it is all is stupidity and racism.
A comment on your post. This case was mentioned in Norwegian media now, and with some pictures of asylum seekers. On bikes. This brought up memories. As you mentioned this is not the first time Russia has used such tactics. In 2015 approximately 5500 persons crossed the border between Russia and Norway, high up in the North. At this bordercrossing there had been something like 5 annual asylum seekers for long period, so they (and the small communities in Finnmark in Norway) were of course overwhelmed. A strange part of the movement was the use of bicycles. There were supposed to a loop hole in the rules, you couldnt cross of foot. But bikes were not prohibited. Since more than 5000 persons crossed the border and wanted bikes, this created a market in Nikel in Russia for bikes with criminals selling bikes and a mountain of bikes at the border crossing where they were dropped.
The result was as could be expected. Of course a lot people suspected Russia of orchestrating this. But it couldnt be proved. There were discussions on going, after a while the border was closed, negotiations, were made, Norway did some quick adjustments to its laws. And local in Nikel in Russia there began some resistance to this as there simply were too many asylum seekers to Norway running around in the city. The flow stopped, but Norway only managed to return 300 or something. The rest had to have their applications tried.
The situation in Finland is of course the same. Actually the number is low, given the flood in 2015. But both Finland and Norway today are awere of this problem and more prepared. The border between Norway and Russia is almost closed allready due to the ongoing war, and it will be closed in an eyeblink If Russia tries that stunt again. But this probably doesnt cost them much of course.
As the mountain of bikes grew, tons of bikes had to destoyed. Picture from a Norwegian newspaper illustrating this: https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/OvbyE/sykkelberget-fra-storskog-vokser-42-tonn-sendt-paa-fyllingen