Russians fleeing mobilization order arrive at Finland’s border: ‘I just wanted to be safe’
Global News
About 7,000 people entered from Russia on Thursday, some 6,000 of them Russian, meaning a 107 per cent increase compared with the same day a week earlier.
Traffic into Finland across its southeastern border with Russia was heavy on Friday, border guards told Reuters, adding that the number of Russians who entered the previous day was more than double the amount who arrived the week before.
Finland is considering barring most Russians from entering as the volume of arrivals from its eastern neighbour “intensified” on Thursday following President Vladimir Putin’s order for a partial military mobilisation.
“This morning it remains busy … maybe increasing a little bit from yesterday,” a spokesperson for the border guard said early on Friday.
Max, a 21-year-old Russian student who declined to give his last name, said he was going to Finland to catch a flight to Germany to visit relatives.
“Technically, I’m a student so I should not be afraid of being drafted but we have seen that things are changing very quickly so I assume there is a chance,” he told Reuters upon crossing the border at Vaalimaa.
“I just wanted to be safe,” he said.
About 7,000 people entered from Russia on Thursday, some 6,000 of them Russian, meaning a 107 per cent increase compared with the same day a week earlier, according to the border guards.
Three people had sought asylum on Thursday. None had the week before, it said.