A viral video shows a huge traffic jam at the Russian-Finnish border. According to various media outlets and social network users, these are Russian citizens fleeing their country after Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 reservists to fight in the invasion of Ukraine.

Published “queues of up to 35 kilometers at the Finnish border to leave Russia after the partial mobilization imposed by Putin,” several media outlets alluding to the aforementioned video, where a long line of vehicles can be seen next to a border post between Finland and Russia.

As Newtral.es was able to verify, the video circulated on the Internet for at least two days before the announcement of the President of Russia and was recorded on August 29, 2022, so it is incorrect that the images show traffic congestion of Russians fleeing to Finland after the announcement of Putin’s partial mobilization.

The Finnish border guards reported On Wednesday, September 21 – the day of Putin’s announcement – that the situation on the border with Russia “has not changed with the announcement of Russian mobilization” and that “there are videos circulating on social media that were filmed before and now. They are generalized out of context.” This is the case of the video that went viral in Spain, as we explain below.

The video corresponds to the Valima border crossing and was recorded in August

First of all, if we search for tires in Russian search engines, we will find a video on YouTube Posted September 19, 2022, two days before Putin announced that he would send more troops to Ukraine. The same video can be seen at Tik Tok Uploaded by the same user 1 day later.

At Newtral.es we have contacted the person who posted these images, who sent us the original video, and as described by Screenshot of the file on your phonerecord it August 29, 2022 at 11:28 am at the Valima border postFinland, three weeks before Putin announced the mobilization of troops to fight in Ukraine.

Also, if you are looking for the different border crossings between Russia and Finland, make sure that the cars shown in the photos are in Valima borders, which separates Leningrad Oblast (Russia) and Keminlaksu Region (Finland). Cars in the lane to enter Finland.

As shown in the pictures street view From Google registered from Finland, the elements shown in the video coincide with this border point. Thus, it can be seen that the circular light poles, traffic lights, or building that appears in the background on the left in the first seconds of the traffic jam video corresponds to the Valimaa border that is on Finnish territory.

Finland denies that there are major traffic jams on the border with Russia

according to general The southeastern Finnish border guard, who is working at this border point, traffic at the border on the afternoon of Wednesday 21 September was “normal” and the queue from Russia to the Finnish border inspection was “about 250 metres”. But the messages accompanying the viral video confirmed that the queue at the border was “35 kilometres”.

While it is true that on the morning of September 22 the Finnish authorities indicated that “traffic at the eastern border increased overnight”, the number of vehicles “remains small compared to the time before the pandemic”.

In short, it is wrong that the traffic jam shown in the photos on the border between Russia and Finland is related to Putin’s announcement of the mobilization of 300,000 reservists into Ukraine. As we have explained, the video was published at least two days before the announcement and, according to its author, was recorded at the end of August. On the other hand, the Finnish authorities made it clear that the situation on the southeastern border throughout September 21 was normal.