Finnish police detain Russian activist, plan deportation via closed eastern border

Finnish police detained Russian opposition activist Roman Golikov on 19 May without warning and plan to deport him to Russia across the closed eastern border, the Finnish public broadcaster Yle has reported. Golikov, who had remained in Finland after his asylum application was rejected, was taken to a detention centre in Turku. He told Yle’s Russian-language service that police broke into his apartment while he was in the shower and gave him ten minutes to pack his belongings.

Deportation has been scheduled for next Thursday across the Nuijamaa border crossing, the only point where Finland and Russia share a land border that remains officially closed. Golikov said police informed him he would be handed over to Russian border guards because his Russian passport has expired, making deportation via Estonia’s border with Russia impossible. He expressed fear of being taken without witnesses to a forested area near Vyborg.

Another Russian activist, Aleksandr Železnikov, faces restarting his asylum process from scratch after seven years of legal battles. Both men were among those who previously criticised the Finnish Immigration Service for downplaying the risk of persecution in Russia, Yle reported in autumn 2025.

In Golikov’s case, the administrative court rejected his appeal in February 2026, ruling that his political activities — including donations to Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, participation in ten demonstrations in Moscow, and election monitoring — did not rise to a level that would provoke special interest from Russian authorities. He was called to Turku police station in March 2026 and given an ultimatum: leave voluntarily or through an organisation assisting returns. After he refused, police arrested him on 19 May. The Supreme Administrative Court has not yet ruled on his further appeal, but police have indicated they can deport him before a decision.

Železnikov, an activist in anarchist and anti-fascist movements who opposes Putin’s rule, has had his asylum application rejected by all judicial instances. After seven years of proceedings, he must submit a new application. Yle reviewed new documents in both cases.

A previous Yle report noted that the immigration service has issued around two thousand asylum decisions for Russian citizens during the war, most of them negative. In spring, Yle reported on a deported asylum seeker who spent months in pre-trial detention after being turned back from the Estonian border to Russia.