Border w/Russia Closed For 2wks Amid 'Hybrid Warfare' Allegations

The Finnish gov't has completely closed its land border with Russia, except for goods shipments, following a major uptick in migrants seeking to cross the frontier in recent weeks. According to Finnish authorities, 900 migrants from nations including Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen have crossed the border in November, up from an average of less than one per day previously. There have been allegations leveled at Moscow that the Russian gov't is engaging in a form of 'hybrid warfare' by aiding migrants in reaching the Finnish border in an effort to destabilise the gov't in Helsinki following its entry into NATO earlier in 2023.

• The situation appears similar to that experienced by Poland in recent years along its border with Kremlin-aligned Belarus. There, large numbers of migrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have sought to cross, with the sanctions imposed on Minsk by the EU following the widely-discredited presidential election in 2020 seen as a trigger for the action.
• The intention of the 'hybrid attack' is not just to cause domestic political unrest but force the country to abandon international commitments on accepting asylum seekers due to the pressure on gov't, allowing Russia to decry Finland/Poland/other EU/NATO states as breakers of international law, the same allegation leveled at Moscow with regards to its invasion of Ukraine.