A far-right Finnish politician had to delete a social media post that threatened the shooting of illegal border crossers following a public outcry, Finnish media reported on Friday.
“Those who cross the border without permission will be shot, this has to end,” Jari Nalli wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia for extremism), according to the Iltalehti newspaper.
He later deleted the post, saying that many had found it upsetting.
He argued that the opinion was his own and did not refer to civilians or any particular border.
Nalli serves as deputy councilor of the far-right Finns Party in the administration of Lappeenranta, a city on the border with Russia, not far from St. Petersburg.
Finland, a member of the European Union’s visa-free Schengen area, shut the border with Russia late last year after accusing the neighbors of allowing asylum seekers to cross illegally into its territory.
Russia denied the accusations of contributing to the EU’s migrant crisis.
