The erection of new checkpoints in the Kola Peninsula has helped ease the migrant situation, Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis says. According to the regional leader, migrants without valid documents are now starting to "turn around and leave."
In what appears as a well orchestrated hoax, the Governor of Murmansk says about 300 migrants are desperately trying to make it to the border-crossing point of Salla and that Finland is to blame. Mounting indications point at the deliberate staging of the situation by Russian security services.
Following the announced closure of four border-crossing points in southern Finland, migrants are moving north to crossing points that remain open. Border police in northern Finland and neighbouring Norway is on high alert.
Following a rapid growth in illegal border traffic, the Nordic country closes four of its border-crossing points to Russia. The border-crossing points in the north of the country will remain open for now.
In a propaganda video, the retired woman from Murmansk, who allegedly spent all her savings on support to Russian warriors, is presented as role model.
Following a sharp increase in illegal border traffic, the Finnish Border Guard Service now prohibits border-crossing with bicycles. Additional measures will be taken if needed, the Finnish Minister of Interior underlines.
Atle is journalist and Publisher of the Independent Barents Observer.
In 2002, he founded the Barents Observer. He was editor until 2009 and later worked as journalist and project coordinator for several European cross-border cooperation projects. In late 2015, following a conflict over editorial rights, he re-established the Barents Observer as an independent and non-profit stock company along with the rest of the newspaper crew.
Atle has a degree in Russian studies from the University of Oslo and studied journalism at the Moscow State University.