Russia has engineered the influx of migrants from third countries in order to undermine the EU, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Friday. He stressed the need to strengthen the border with Russia, which has been closed for several months.
Petteri made the comments during a visit to Finland’s eastern border at Imatra, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We have to find common solutions to stop this phenomenon when Russia has used illegal immigrants against us. We are preparing our own legislation but we also need EU-level measures,” Orpo told reporters. He previously said the threat from the situation at the border was “evident,” and announced that the government was working on a deportation law.
At a joint press conference, von der Leyen claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has set his sights on Finland” because of the country’s support for Ukraine and its recent accession to NATO. “Russia’s hybrid attacks are not just about Finland’s security. This is about the security of the entire EU,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).