Finland to monitor migrant flow from Russia with drones

HELSINKI: Finland plans to test drones along its frontier with Russia, an official said on Monday, as a growing number of migrants crosses that northern border of the European Union’s Schengen passport-free travel zone.

Major Jussi Napola of the Finnish border guard declined to say why Helsinki wanted to run the tests along the 833-mile (1,340 km) border, where migrant movements have grown to become an issue at high-level bilateral meetings.

Finland last month criticised its eastern neighbour and former ruler for allowing increasing numbers of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa across their Arctic border.

Following ministerial meetings, the countries agreed to step up cooperation on the border.

According to the Finnish border guard, about 500 asylum seekers have come from Russia to Finland this year, compared with about 700 in the whole of 2015.

“The plan is to test the remote piloted aerial system in operational use at the Russian border and the coastal areas.

We want to see if the technology suits our needs and if it is suitable for Finnish conditions”, Napola told Reuters.

The European Union is already using drones to help monitor the flow of migrants and refugees over the Mediterranean and Napola said the border guard has worked with the EU border agen- cy Frontex in reviewing different drone options.

“The development of the technology has turned this into a viable, and possibly cost effective option for us.

Our target now is to get more experience of their operational capabilities,” he said.

Break promise

Meanwhile, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila has said he will not be able fulfil a promise to put up a family of asylum seekers for now because of security concerns.

Sipila, a former telecoms execu- tive, stirred controversy in September by saying he would open his second home in northern Finland to refugees.

But on Sunday he told public YLE radio that he had had to put the plan on hold, though he would support a refugee family in other ways until the situation changed.

“I asked security experts to evaluate whether it would be safe for a family with children to move in.

Due to the heavy publicity, the situation is such that it would not be reasonable right now.”

Sipila has one house near the capital Helsinki as well as a government residence.

The house that he proposed to offer to refugees is one that he rarely uses in his home town of Kempele. Some politicians and members of the public had accused Sipila of encouraging asylum seekers to come to Finland with his offer.

The European Union is already using drones to help monitor the flow of migrants over the Mediterranean