New Iron Curtain Descending on Putin's Russia

Finland is among three European countries that have restricted or are looking to tighten their borders with Russia, which they accuse of weaponizing asylum seekers by sending them to the frontier without proper documents.

One expert told Newsweek that the Kremlin was seeking to test Helsinki's resolve after it agreed to closer military co-operation with the U.S.—adding that the situation could get worse. Newsweek has contacted the Russian foreign ministry for comment.

Helsinki announced on November 16 it would close four out of its nine border crossings with Russia until February 18, following a spike of arrivals at its southern frontier of asylum seekers from countries including Iraq, Yemen and Somalia.

The Finnish Border Guard said that barriers had gone up at the Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala crossings in southeastern Finland—the busiest points of travel between the countries, with about 3,000 people crossing per day.

Following the move, Norwegian Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said Oslo was prepared to close its border with Russia in the far north if there was a sharp increase in the number of people crossing it, though this has not happened yet.

Meanwhile, Estonia has said it would close all border crossing points with Russia if necessary, following an attempt by eight Somali migrants to enter the NATO and EU member via the border city of Narva.

Tallinn has ordered anti-tank "dragon's teeth" barriers to its border with Russia in Narva, which is in eastern Estonia. Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets has accused Moscow of pushing asylum seekers "without any reason" to its frontier. Estonia has returned everyone trying to cross without documents or permission.

Illustrating the tensions at Russia's border with its European neighbors was a video that went viral of a confrontation between Finnish border guards and migrants at Niirala border station. Images shared on social media show the refugees gathered at the border on bicycles.

Finland shares an 830-mile frontier with Russia, which was angered by Helsinki's accession to NATO after decades of non-alignment, a move spurred by Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland is also constructing a 124-mile fence on a section of the border, due to be completed by 2026.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the refugees are being "escorted or transported to the border by border guards" from Russia amid claims that Moscow sought to avenge Helsinki for its NATO membership.

Sari Arho Havrén, an associate fellow at the RUSI thinktank and a visiting researcher in the University of Helsinki, said Russia was reacting both to Finland's NATO membership and the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the U.S. announced last month.

"Although Finnish authorities say that Finland is ready to respond decisively to these Russian pressure attempts, the situation is not getting easier, but could get worse," she told Newsweek, noting that Finland complies with international human rights agreements and processes the applications of asylum seekers.

She said that Russia was using asylum seekers "to put pressure on Finland — mind you, it's winter, and these people on the border areas are in a very vulnerable situation."

"Russians living in Finland have started demanding the Finnish authorities to keep the border open, while the root cause of the situation is in the Kremlin and its aggressive policy towards its neighbor," she said. "For now, we can only speculate what kind of actions Russia is planning next against Finland."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Helsinki was making a "big mistake" by confronting Russia over the immigrants and the Russian foreign ministry rejected claims that it was weaponizing immigrants, describing the accusations as "very strange."

In 2021, thousands of migrants flew to Russian ally Belarus before crossing into EU member states Poland and Lithuania, prompting the EU to accuse Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of trying to destabilize the bloc.

Pekka Kallioniemi, a postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University in Finland, told Newsweek that Moscow was engaged in a hybrid warfare strategy in which, along with Belarus, it pushed asylum seekers towards the EU.

"The Kremlin can benefit from this operation on many levels—they can use it in their internal propaganda, but also frame Finland as a country that mistreats asylum seekers," he said.

"Now that the borders are closed, they can also claim that Finnish authorities are preventing Russians who live in Finland to visit their home country. It might also increase the popularity of pro-Kremlin, European political parties."

Updated 11/20/23, 11:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Pekka Kallioniemi.