Refugees Fleeing Russia Brave 14 F Freeze to Cross NATO Border on Cycles

Footage on social media has gone viral of a group of asylum seekers trying to cross on bicycles in freezing temperatures from Russia’s northernmost border with NATO’s newest member, Finland.

The clip posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday shows a line of the immigrants at the only crossing between the countries. It came a day after Helsinki closed all but one of its frontiers with its neighbor Russia, which Finland has accused of stoking an immigrant crisis.

This month, the Finnish announced they would shut four of its eight road border crossings with Russia. Finland accused the Russians of pushing asylum seekers from countries like Yemen and Syria to the frontier. This was in revenge for Helsinki’s accession to NATO in April and increased military cooperation with the U.S. Russia has denied the accusations and said it was ready to work with Helsinki to reach an agreement on the border issue. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment.

The restrictions were tightened further from Friday, and all borders were closed except the northernmost Raja-Jooseppi crossing. Finland said it would still adhere to abide by its obligations to allow asylum seekers to seek protection under international treaties and EU law.

“Today it’s –10 C (14 F) asylum seekers have arrived from Russia,” posted the account of Russian-language account Raspad and Neuvazhenia, next to the video of migrants at the Raja-Jooseppi crossing, which as of Monday had received more than 236,000 views.

While the video shows several dozen asylum seekers on bikes waiting in the snow, Finnish news outlet Raja said that three men from Syria and Afghanistan had been allowed to cross the border, which is open daily between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

One of the men, Moayad Salami, told the Finnish outlet YLE that the route to the EU through Russia is actively advertised on social networks. He said that Russian authorities had helped transport them to the border.

After arriving in St. Petersburg, Salami was told by the smuggler who handled his trip that it had been organized by the Russian military. The group was driven to the border, and given bikes, which they were told to ride to the frontier.

“The Russians told the new arrivals that you have the right to apply for asylum, so at least storm the border,” said Salami.

Last week, Mikko Kinnunen, ambassador, strategic communication, at Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, told Newsweek that Russia was weaponizing migrants “under the threshold of warfare or under NATO’s Article 5,” which necessitated a collective response among alliance members.

Russia had the aim “of splitting Western societies and causing problems, which might make us reconsider our support to Ukraine,” Kinnunen added.