Finland has deported 155 Russian citizens this year, outpacing 2025

Finland has deported 155 Russian nationals since the start of 2026, Chief Superintendent Janne Lepsu of Finland’s National Police Board told the Russian-language outlet Vot Tak — up from more than the 104 people expelled in the first nine months of 2025.

Finnish authorities sent 90 of the deportees to Russia and another 65 to other countries. Of the 155, 17 were deported under escort.

“Russian nationals most often face deportation after the Finnish Immigration Service denies them a residence permit,” Lepsu said. “In 2026, though, there were about 15 to 20 deportation decisions tied to criminal activity by Russian citizens in Finland.”

In 2026, Finnish authorities began deporting Russians directly across the closed border. Previously, deportees were driven to Estonia and sent across to the Russian side from there. Valery Klepkin, a journalist based in Finland, said the Russians sent home are those whose passports have expired. Without a valid document, deporting them anywhere else is difficult.

Klepkin said very few Russians are waiting for asylum decisions in Finland. As of May 31, 2026, the Finnish Immigration Service had just 60 such applications under review, and the Supreme Administrative Court had 91 cases pending.

Russians’ chances of winning asylum have improved this year, Klepkin said. From September 2024 through June 2025, the immigration service granted asylum in 186 of 869 cases, a rate of 21%. A year later, from September 2025 through June 2026, the rate nearly doubled, to 37%: 119 grants out of 320 decisions.

Finland supports Ukraine and opposes Russia’s full-scale invasion, but Russian political refugees there regularly encounter problems, Vot Tak said. Among those denied asylum in recent months, the outlet listed the activists Roman Golikov; Olga Belova and Nikita Belov; and Valentin Sergienko.