Debunked: Russians were not in a 35km queue at Finland border

President Vladimir Putin’s order of a “partial” army mobilisation has prompted some Russians to protest on the streets. 

Others have fled, fearing they may very well be referred to as as much as serve in Ukraine.

One-way flights to close by nations have now bought out, whereas Google recorded a spike of individuals looking for methods to depart Russia.

Since Monday, Russian residents can solely enter the European Union by way of the 1,340-kilometre border with Finland. Not like the Baltic nations and Poland, Finland has not fully restricted the entry of Russian vacationers with Schengen visas.

Putin’s speech prompted deceptive rumours that some Russians had joined prolonged queues at Finland’s southeastern border on Wednesday evening, hoping to depart the nation. 

Euronews has fact-checked the claims.

Numerous photographs and movies have been shared on-line, displaying lengthy traces of stationary site visitors at Finland’s border.

Some customers falsely claimed that the queues and site visitors jams have been so long as 35 kilometres and have been “rising by the hour”.

One such video of the Vaalimaa border publish in southeastern Finland gathered greater than 2.5 million views on Twitter.

Nonetheless, a web-based investigation reveals the footage was first shared on-line on 19 September, two days earlier than Putin’s mobilisation name.

The proprietor of the video, who posted the clip on each YouTube and TikTok, additionally states that it was filmed “two weeks earlier” on the finish of August and that the congestion was “regular” for autumn border crossings.

His claims have additionally been supported by the Finnish Border Guard Service.

“There’s regular queuing in border site visitors,” stated Matti Pitkäniitty, the pinnacle of the Worldwide  Affairs Unit on the Finnish Border Guard.

“The scenario at [the] Finnish-Russian land border stays regular,” he wrote on Twitter.

The regional border service added that queues on Wednesday on the border inspection have been solely “250 metres” lengthy, and positively not 35 kilometres.

“[The] scenario at Finland’s borders has not modified with the announcement of Russian mobilisation,” the Border Guard service added on Twitter.

“There are movies circulating on social media, a minimum of a few of which have already been filmed earlier than and now taken out of context. There’s incorrect info in circulation.”

Pitkäniitty later confirmed that 4,824 Russians arrived in Finland by way of the jap border on Wednesday.

Whereas this was a rise on the earlier week — 3,133 Russians arrived on September 14 — the quantity was “decrease than a standard weekend”.

The false rumours of kilometre-long queues have been additionally debunked on-line by Ville Cantell, a director at Finland’s Ministry for Overseas Affairs.

The Border Guard Service did affirm on Thursday that border site visitors from Russia had risen through the evening, however harassed that the scenario was “beneath management”.

“Incoming site visitors on the jap border elevated through the evening,” the authority wrote on Twitter.

“Site visitors has elevated in comparison with earlier weeks, however the quantity remains to be small in comparison with the time earlier than the pandemic. Our sources are enough and the scenario is beneath the management.”

Southeastern Finland’s border guard has just lately reported an distinctive variety of “prime quality” false and solid journey paperwork in cross-border site visitors.

“The individuals who submitted the forgeries have been from the Caucasus area and their locations have been primarily in Central Europe,” the authority stated in a assertion on Tuesday

Some folks have paid a number of thousand euros for the cast paperwork to try to illegally enter Finland, they added. An investigation is underway.

Finland’s determination to permit some travellers to cross the EU’s longest border with Russia had confronted criticism, together with from Ukraine’s overseas minister Dmytro Kuleba.

“Time to cease accepting vacationer visas from Russia,” Finnish MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri wrote on Twitter.

“Russian visa functions must have causes for coming into and processed accordingly. [The] border can not stay open usually.”

Finland’s overseas minister Pekka Haavisto has indicated that the nation is urgently making ready measures to limit Russian vacationer visas.

“Finland doesn’t need to be a transit nation for Schengen visas issued by different nations,” he advised nationwide media.

“There isn’t any ethical justification for Russian holidays to proceed as they’re.”