”The migrants must understand that this is dangerous”

Following this week’s death of a migrant trying to make it across the Russian-Finnish border, regional authorities in Murmansk voice concern about the situation in the area.

As previously reported, a 33-year old man froze to death near a checkpoint after having waited five days to get to the Finnish border.

Temperatures in the area has this week been stable below minus 30 degrees Celsius.

”Considering the low temperatures, the migrants must care for their own security and local authorities must provide them with necessary information”, Deputy Governor Aleksey Tyukavin says.

”People must understand that it is dangerous to stay by the checkpoints in this period of sharp temperature drop”, he adds, a press release reads.

Currently, between 5-20 migrants cross the border every day, regional authorities say.

Tyukavin confirms that local authorities in the town of Kandalaksha will step up information work among the migrants. Town Mayor Andrey Ivanov calls on the migrants to stay in local Kandalaksha hotels instead of going to the remote border areas where there is no housing and accommodation available.

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The authorities do at the moment not possess information about the extent of freeze burns among the migrants, the regional government website says.