Eastern border | Häkkänen in Yle: “Guided asylum seeking at Finland’s borders will be stopped by any means”

“Controlled applying for asylum at Finland’s borders will be stopped by any means, within the framework of the legislation”, the Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen (cook) said Ylen First thing in the morning on Saturday.

In the broadcast, Häkkänen commented on Finland’s decision to completely close four border crossings in southeastern Finland on the night before Saturday. Ten asylum seekers had arrived in Finland on foot during the night through the open Vartius border station.

The closing of the border has been criticized as too drastic a measure in relation to the actual number of asylum seekers who came across the border.

However, according to Häkkänen, the situation should be viewed as part of Russia’s wider “playbook”.

“In Finland’s internal discussion, there is quite a lot more jurisprudence than understanding of the international security policy situation,” he said.

Finland the border situation is part of Russia’s wider operation. According to Häkkänen, Wagner, the private army used by the Russian administration, drives hundreds of thousands of people in Africa to try to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

Migrants are driven through Russia to European borders, not only in Finland, but also in the Baltics and Poland, for example.

“If you only look at Nuijamaa [raja-aseman] situation, that it’s calm, maybe you don’t understand what this is about. You have to see the great state of security to understand. Already in 2015, there were clear signs in Finland that Russia was operating against Finland, and now there are signs that the same is starting to happen again,” says Häkkänen.

Häkkäsen According to Finland, if necessary, the entire border will be closed in order to get the message across.

“It is necessary to operate efficiently enough right from the beginning,” says Häkkänen.

According to him, behind Russia’s actions is a long-term effort to sow discord in Western societies and undermine their stability and security situation.

“Finnish legislation is well known there, and efforts are made to take advantage of the narrowness and certain weaknesses of the legislation,” Häkkänen said.