There are between 2,000 and 3,000 people waiting in Russia for Finland to re-open its eastern border, a group of recently-arrived Syrian asylum seekers have told Yle.
The Finnish Border Guard detained the four men near the border town of Parikkala in South Karelia last Wednesday on suspicion of trying to enter the country illegally.
They are currently residing at the Joutseno reception centre in Lappeenranta, where they were interviewed by Yle. None of the four speak English, but told the story of their journey to Finland with the help of Moayad Salami, an English-speaking asylum seeker who arrived at an earlier date.
Trip to Finland costs €6,000
Through their interpreter, the men recalled how they found a smuggler via the instant messaging service Telegram.
They each paid the smuggler 6,000 euros to facilitate their passage to Finland, they said.
The journey began in St Petersburg, where two taxis operating under the Yandex brand brought them close to the border.
At this point, they were told that they would have to cross the border on their own, through the forest. They were not aware Finland had closed its borders with Russia and had thought they would enter Finland at a checkpoint.
The men claimed they walked through a forest for about eight hours until they reached Finland. Walking through the deep snow was difficult, they said, the forest was dark and cold during the night.
They had no food or water with them, and they used a GPS navigating tool on their mobile phones to find their way.
Identity of smuggler unknown
The group told Yle that they do not know the identity of the smuggler who brought them to Finland, but they said he was from an Arab country.
Moayad Salami, who acted as an interpreter for the men during the interview by Yle, noted that there are many smugglers available on the Telegram platform.
The men said they decided to come to Finland because they wanted a better life in Europe.
One of the group said he left Syria about a year ago, and spent some time in Belarus before attempting to enter the EU through Poland, but he was not successful.
Another of the men only arrived in Russia from Syria a couple of weeks ago, while the remaining two said they departed from Syria about six months ago.
Some of the group also told Yle that they had made a previous attempt to reach Finland, when the border was briefly re-opened in December, but they were turned back by Russian officials due to their expired visas.
On Friday, Finnish authorities announced that they have begun investigating about 1,000 asylum seekers over suspicions that they committed a border offence when they entered the country. All of the suspects in the case have applied for asylum in Finland at an eastern border checkpoint since August.
A border offence usually means that a person has attempted to cross the border into Finland without the requisite documentation or from a place other than an official crossing point.