In February 2025, the Czech Minister of the Interior took a working trip to Finland, where he met with his Finnish counterpart. They discussed key security issues for Europe, including the fight against the instrumentalization of migration, future changes in EU migration policy, and joint action against hybrid threats and disinformation.
"Finland has become a target of attempts by Russia to instrumentalize migration in recent months. This situation concerns not only Finland, but the entire EU. It is crucial that we seek common solutions that will ensure security and stability in our area," the Czech Minister stated after the meeting.
The working trip also included a visit to the border crossing on the Finnish-Russian border in Vaalimaa, where the Czech delegation learned about the current situation on the eastern border of the EU. Finland has been facing pressure from Russia since last year, which has been systematically sending migrants without valid documents to the border with the aim of destabilizing the situation in the country. The Czech Minister inspected the security measures on site, including the construction of a border fence to prevent illegal crossings. The delegation was also provided with an overview by the Finnish Border Guard on current threats and new border protection procedures
Another key point of the visit was the discussion on hybrid threats and disinformation. Finland is one of the European leaders in this area and the Czech Republic cooperates closely with it. The Czech Minister visited the European Center for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki, which focuses, among other things, on cybersecurity and protecting elections from foreign interference. Examples of interference, according to Finnish experts, include the spread of disinformation on social networks, the use of deepfake videos to compromise political leaders, and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
The Czech and Finnish sides agreed to continue to cooperate closely on security issues, particularly in the areas of migration, security and hybrid threats.