[Observer - 04/06/16] The hand of Russian intelligence behind some European far-right politicians and sensationalist news stories can be detected by those with the skilled eyes to see it, but there have also been nagging questions about whether the Kremlin is stoking the migrant crisis itself. It’s undeniably true that Syria, a Russian client state, has been perfectly happy to export its huge refugee problem to Europe, while Mr. Putin’s military intervention in that bloody civil war last year has only increased the flows of desperate Syrian refugees seeking sanctuary in the West.
But does Russian intelligence play a more direct role in encouraging migrants to head for the EU? Several Western security services have hinted at this reality, but only recently have any European governments been willing to go on the record with their concerns. In mid-February, Finland’s defense minister bluntly stated that the flow of migrants into his country via Russia was "our most serious challenge." Now, with refugees taking an Arctic route into the EU from Russia in unprecedented numbers, Helsinki is openly accusing the Kremlin and its intelligence services of flooding Finland, and therefore the EU, with refugees as a political weapon to destabilize Europe.
This notion, which may sound far-fetched to neophytes, is taken very seriously by leading EU and NATO members, particularly those unlucky enough to be located close to Russia. "This is all the FSB," explained a senior security official from one of NATO’s border states, referring to Russia’s powerful Federal Security Service. "Migrants go where the FSB sends them, many of the human traffickers are FSB agents," adding that for the Kremlin this is a "win-win since it gets the migrants out of their lap and drops them in ours."
Emphasis added.
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