Why Finland is blaming Russia for a sudden influx of migrants on its eastern border

By VANESSA GERA and JARI TANNER
Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — Russia threatened retaliation against Finland after its Nordic neighbor joined NATO earlier this year. Now hundreds of migrants from the Middle East and Africa have appeared at Finland’s border from Russia. Finnish officials say the sudden surge in asylum-seekers is no coincidence. They accuse Russia of driving the migrants to the border to sow discord as payback for Finland’s decision to join the Western military alliance. Western countries have for years accused Russia and its ally Belarus of using migrants as pawns to destabilize Western democracies. Many see this as the latest such example. This is often described by European leaders as a form of “hybrid warfare” that Moscow has deployed against them.