Over 1000 refugees crossed Finnish-Russian border in the north
As Finnish and Russian authorities are discussing how to curb the flow of asylum seekers across their common border, the number of people entering Finnish Lapland from Murmansk Oblast is reaching new records.
Finland´s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Russia´s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev are going to meet this Friday to discuss further measures.
So far in 2016, 434 refugee seekers have entered Finland from Russia in the north, compared to some 600 in the whole of 2015, YLE reports..
Migrants from 32 countries have crossed from Murmansk to Lapland via the Salla and Raja-Jooseppi border-crossing points, SeverPost writes. Most of the migrants come from Afghanistan, India, Syria and Bangladesh.
Finland’s Minister Of Internal Affairs Petteri Orpo and is Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokoltsev on Tuesday discussed cooperation to prevent human trafficking across their common border. Orpo said that the discussions were held in an open, cooperative atmosphere, and that both countries are concerned about illegal immigration and want to work to prevent it.
“We agreed that the previously existing law enforcement officials’ coordination group should meet soon and that its agenda should include prevention of illegal immigration and other key crime-prevention topics,” said Orpo at Wednesday’s press conference in Helsinki, YLE reports.
