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| The new Mannerheim line will protect Finland from invasion by Somalis and Iraqis | |||
| 2023-11-21 | |||
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko [REGNUM] Finland has closed five border checkpoints on the border with Russia since November 18, including the four most popular ones. Thus, the Russian-Finnish border was almost completely blocked. This caused indignation among Russian-speaking residents of the state. They are dissatisfied with the fact that official Helsinki, having become involved in a geopolitical confrontation with Russia, has trampled over the interests of ordinary people who want to live in peace and maintain communication with their friends and relatives on the other side of the border. THE NEW "MANNERHEIM LINE" A few years ago, the Suomi authorities began to accustom their population to the idea that Moscow could take certain hostile actions against its neighbor. “The government report states that as the security environment changes, Finland is preparing to be exposed to exceptional, large-scale and complex hybrid capabilities in both the short and long term,” the Finnish Ministry of the Interior said a year and a half ago. The Ministry of Internal Affairs made it clear that Moscow could use refugees from Asian and African countries who use Russia as a transit territory on their way to the EU as its “hybrid weapon”. The ministry warned that applications from refugees for asylum in Finland will now be accepted only at strictly designated border checkpoints. The Finnish legislator also took care to alienate plots of border land from private owners to create a fence with which Suomi intends to isolate itself from Russia. After the checkpoints were closed, the Finns began to turn them into small fortresses - they began to block highways with concrete blocks and fences. This new “Mannerheim Line” should protect Finland from hordes of refugees from poor Asian and African countries who are trying to enter the coveted EU through Russia. The Finnish government does not rule out that at any moment “Putin may follow Lukashenko’s example last year.” Let us remind you that the leadership of the community places the responsibility for the migration crisis of 2021 on the eastern borders of the EU entirely on the “Belarusian dictator”, who, by his own evil will, gathered refugees from the third world in Belarus and sent them to storm the borders of the European Union. In Helsinki they believe that Moscow has decided to take a similar step. NOT JUST REFUGEES Sinikukka Saari director of research at the Helsinki Institute of International Affairs, identifies three “hybrid influence methods” that she believes Russia could use against its neighbors. The first of these methods is to send migrants across the border. “Now Russia is again trying to put pressure on Finland with the help of migrants, they are being used as a weapon ,” says Saari. She recalls the events of 2015, when migrants arrived in Finland across the EU's external border in larger than usual numbers for several months. The “expert” also provides another “evidence” - they say, since Russia and Belarus have close allied relations, it means that the Belarusian security forces could not help but share their “experience” with their Russian colleagues. “At a minimum, they exchanged views on this operation,” says Saari. Also, according to her, Russia is capable of sending a large number of labor migrants from the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus to Finland. Finally, the “expert” does not rule out that Russia could also strike at Finnish infrastructure. Saari recalls that it was the “Russian trace” that became the first version of the recent damage to the Blaticconnector underwater gas pipeline. In addition, according to an employee of the Finnish Institute of International Relations, the insidious Moscow has prepared other vile tricks against Finland. “Intentional damage to the environment disguised as an accident ,” she gives an example. In practice, this, according to Saari, could become “an oil spill on a Russian tanker in the Baltic Sea.” It may, of course , “remain unclear whether this was a deliberate leak or damage at all ,” but in general the Finns seem ready to be content with the tried and tested “highly like” principle. However, Sinikukka Saari believes that “Finland should not panic and should not allow Russian pressure to influence its own decisions . ” BORDER IS LOCKED TIGHT Last year in Helsinki they said that Moscow was too busy with Ukrainian affairs to plot intrigues against Finland, and then, they say, anything could happen. At the same time, preparations were intensified to combat the “hybrid threat.” As you know, over the past fourteen months, the Suomi authorities have blocked the possibility of entry into their country for most Russian citizens. From now on, even the fact of owning real estate is not a sufficient reason for entry. Entry is prohibited for cars with Russian license plates, and recently a ban was introduced for entry from the Russian Federation on bicycles. This ban caused confusion, but the Finnish border service explained that bicycles are often used by migrants rushing to Suomi. Since November 18, the Finns have closed (so far, as they say, only for three months) the four busiest border checkpoints on the border with the Russian Federation - “Vaalimaa” (opposite the Russian checkpoint “Torfyanovka”), “Nuyjamaa” (“Brusnichnoe”), “Imatra” (“Svetogorsk”) in the Leningrad region and “Niirala” (“Vyartsilya”) in Karelia. The next day, the Vartius checkpoint was added to them. According to the Finnish side, from August to November 16, a total of 313 asylum seekers arrived across the eastern border, and in the first half of 2023, 327 people applied at the eastern border. The Finns explain this increase in the number of refugees by saying that Russia allegedly deliberately sends these “guests” to the borders of Suomi. Although the Finns banned most Russian citizens from entering their country last year, in the last 24 hours before the closure there was pandemonium at four checkpoints. People who still had the opportunity to cross the border were in a hurry to do so for the last time. Some complained loudly about losing the ability to visit parents and friends on the other side of the border. To justify the step taken, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen burst into accusations on a cosmic scale. He found “clear signs” that it was Russia that provoked the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean region, as well as on the borders with Poland and the Baltic states. The minister admitted that the closure of the south-eastern Finnish border points had become a big problem for people with dual citizenship, but immediately shifted all responsibility for this situation to Moscow. “If a neighboring country exploits the vulnerabilities of our legal system, then we are forced to protect what matters most: the safety of Finns ,” he said. FINNISH SCHADENFREUDE On November 18, about a hundred Russian-speaking citizens of Finland held a protest rally in front of the parliament building. In order not to give rise to accusations that they are “agents of Moscow,” the protesters said that they strongly “condemn Russia’s practice of using refugees as weapons in international politics” and “support Finland’s desire for security and the protection of its borders.” But at the same time, they asked to preserve their right to travel and to meet relatives. “I was supposed to be in St. Petersburg today. Yesterday my parents cried into my phone because they are afraid that they will not see us again. Taking care of parents is also very difficult. I can’t send them money and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to come to them anymore,” rally participant Vera Ponomareva said bitterly. The protesters called for “finding other solutions to combat hybrid influence,” for example, opening the Parikkala checkpoint. It is not international, and previously only citizens of Finland and Russia who had obtained permission in advance could use it. “I am a citizen of Finland and Russia. It’s depressing that Finland, which was previously close, is becoming so far away that we have to travel through Estonia. And if Estonia closes the border, then you’ll have to fly through Istanbul ,” says another rally participant, Sergei. A petition has appeared on the Adressit.com portal calling for the opportunity to visit Russia for those who have relatives there; it has already been signed by almost 13 thousand people. “Border traffic between Finland and Russia should be allowed - if there is a family connection. The government’s decision to completely close border traffic between Finland and Russia is contrary to human rights ,” said petition author Petri Mattinen. It is doubtful, however, that these people will be met halfway. In general, Finnish society has been propagated in such a way that it is not inclined to show sympathy for Russians - even for those with dual citizenship.
At the same time, the Finns began to treat migrants arriving at their border more brutally. So, when on November 17, another group of thirty refugees on bicycles and on foot (among them were women and children) arrived at the Niirala checkpoint, border guards sprayed gas in the face of one of them when he tried to run past them.
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| Posted by:badanov |