What the EU and Finland did over Russia in July 2024
A look back at two European responses linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, from Brussels and from Helsinki, in the days before 18 July 2024.
What were European governments doing about the fallout of Russia's war on Ukraine by 18 July 2024? Two developments from the preceding days show institutions responding in different ways: one about diplomacy inside the European Union, the other about a border.
Brussels responds to Orbán's trips
On 15 July 2024, the European Commission announced that top EU officials, including Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, would boycott informal meetings hosted by Hungary during its rotating EU Presidency. The move came in response to meetings that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán had held in Russia and China regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Commission's announcement described those contacts as rogue.
Finland tightens its eastern border
A few days earlier, on 12 July 2024, the Parliament of Finland passed a law allowing border guards to restrict trafficked asylum seekers from crossing the Finland–Russia border.
The measure came against the backdrop of Russian emigration since the invasion began in February 2022. Later estimates put the total number of Russian citizens and residents who left the country at roughly 900,000 by early October 2022, a figure covering economic migrants, conscientious objectors and some political refugees. The same later estimates suggested that more than 70% of Russian emigrants feared repression by the Russian government.
Taken together, the two decisions showed how the war continued to shape politics well beyond Ukraine's borders by mid-July 2024, from the handling of contacts with Moscow to the management of a frontier with Russia.
