Getting into Finland…the hard way: Russian state TV is mocked for rude-looking map illustrating border crisis as Putin tries to send migrants into the NATO nation

• Phallus-shaped map featured on show hosted by Kremlin mouthpiece Evgeny Popov

Russian state TV has been mocked for a rude-looking map illustrating the border crisis as Putin tries to send migrants into the NATO nation.

The phallus-shaped map was broadcast on the Russia-1 channel during a programme presented by Kremlin mouthpiece Evgeny Popov.

During a discussion about the border closures on his show, Popov displayed a map showing what a journey from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, via the Raja-Jooseppi crossing, the last border post it maintains with Russia that is still open, would now entail.

The two cities were encircled in red, with a red line crudely depicting the route between them using the remaining crossing for viewers to admire.

Standing in front of the map while dressed in a suit and tie, Popov said: ‘This is what the current routes from St. Petersburg to Helsinki look like through the only working checkpoint on the Finnish border.

The phallus-shaped map was broadcast on the Russia-1 channel during a programme presented by Kremlin mouthpiece Evgeny Popov

‘The Finns have closed all the others in an attempt to curry favor with Washington and NATO. After all, it is our country and its union with China that poses an unprecedented threat to the United States.’

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry who monitors Russian state media, shared a short clip of the broadcast on X, formerly Twitter.

Social media users were quick to comment on the illustration, with one writing: ‘Russian tv presenting penis route.’

Other X users thought it looked more like a middle finger, with another posting: ‘How many people here think the picture is a middle finger to Putin’s logic? How can they display the funny and hilarious image without even realizing it?’

A General view of the Raja-Jooseppi border station in Lapland, northern Finland, 27 November 2023

Another person wrote: ‘They really used this picture? :-))) They are getting worse and worse.’

The Finnish government has accused Russia of funnelling migrants to the crossings as payback for its decision to increase defence cooperation with NATO ally the United States, an assertion dismissed by Moscow. 

READ MORE: Finland shuts all but one border crossing with Russia after 700 asylum seekers entered the country in ‘plot by Putin to weaponise mass migration’ after Helsinki joined NATO 

The Kremlin said last Friday that Finland was making a ‘big mistake’ by closing down border crossings and that Helsinki’s move was destroying bilateral relations. 

Finland’s NATO accession, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was met with threats of counter-measures by Moscow. 

Finland is ready to close its last border crossing with Russia if Moscow keeps pushing migrants across, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Monday as migrants continued to make the treacherous journey through the Arctic.

‘We have closed all our border stations on the eastern border except for one and we are ready to close the last one if needed,’ Orpo told reporters in Helsinki.

‘Finland is protecting the European Union’s external border and NATO’s border. We will not let this phenomenon continue,’ he added.

Finland has seen a surge in asylum seekers entering without a visa across its 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia.

Finland’s prime minister said on Wednesday that the country will close all but its northernmost crossing point with Russia following a surge in migrants. 

‘Unfortunately, these measures have not been able to stop this phenomenon,’ Orpo said.

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