Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb, has signed a law on temporary measures to combat instrumentalized immigration, which permits the country’s border guards to deny entry to asylum seekers who cross over from Russia.
For months, authorities in Finland have been attempting to find new ways to deal with the surge in the number of asylum seekers coming from Russia, which in December this year led the Finnish government to close the border with Russia.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, the main goal of the law is to ensure the country has effective means to combat situations where instrumentalized immigration is used to put pressure on Finland, and Schengen. News reports.
The new law specifies the conditions which permit the general session of the Government to decide limiting the acceptance of applications for international protection in a limited part of Finland’s national border and in its immediate vicinity.
The restriction decision would be preceded by cooperation with the President of the Republic.
The Ministry notes that there might be some exceptions when it comes to the introduction of the law.
The prerequisite is always knowledge or a well-founded suspicion of influence directed at Finland by a foreign state, which causes a serious danger to Finland’s sovereignty and national security, and other means are not sufficient to resolve the situation. The decision can be made for a maximum of one month at a time.
It means that requests for international protection would then not be accepted in restricted zones, unless for some exceptional cases, but the entry of the immigrant used as a means of influence would be banned.
Under the new law, a person who has already reached the country would be removed from the country and directed to move to a place where applications for international protection are accepted.
Finland Accuses Moscow of Orchestrating a Hybrid Attack
Authorities in Finland have previously accused the Kremlin of orchestrating a hybrid attack by sending asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East to their shared border. Such claims were denied by authorities in Russia.
Through a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland said that the threat of instrumented entry into Finland, which began in the fall of last year at Finland’s eastern border remains high.
As a result of the surge in the number of irregular arrivals, last year, authorities in Finland closed all crossing points on their border with Russia.
In addition to the introduction of the new legislation, last month, authorities in Finland also announced that they are building new fences and deploying an increased number of patrols, drones and electronic detectors along parts of its border with Russia.
