Finnish and Russian interior ministers discuss closer cooperation between migration authorities

Finnish Minister of the Interior Paula Risikko met with her Russian Federation counterpart, Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, in Helsinki on 25 October. This was the Ministers’ second bilateral meeting. The Ministers discussed bilateral issues such as combatting cross-border crime.

Other issues on the agenda included the migration situation in Finland and Russia, regional cooperation in crime prevention between the law enforcement authorities and the combating of drug-related crime.

The meeting was also attended by Chief of the General Administration for Migration Issues Olga Kirillova and Chief of the General Administration for Drug Control Andrey Khrapov; both General Administrations operate under the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"We had a very fruitful conversation today with the leaders of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and managed to drive things forward," says Minister Risikko, satisfied with this outcome.

Last year, Finland and Russia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on migration cooperation. The aim of the Memorandum is to deepen cooperation between migration authorities, for example in the prevention of illegal immigration. During their talks, the Ministers noted that the implementation of the Memorandum had been carried out effectively. During the past year, a number of migration seminars and meetings have been organised both in Finland and Russia.

"It is extremely important that we can exchange information on the migration situation, developments in migration legislation in our countries and return issues, for example," Risikko says.

Regional crime prevention cooperation between Russia and Finland is based on the crime prevention agreement concluded in 1993 and regularly updated cooperation plans made with the regions of Murmansk, Karelia and Leningrad and the City of St Petersburg. The plans for 2018 were adopted at the meeting of the Finnish and Russian crime prevention committee held in Murmansk last summer. The Ministers noted at the meeting that regional cooperation had become more active as a result of the signing of these plans.

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Katarine Lindstedt, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 50 342 2825, [email protected]