Border cops accuse Finnish students of crossing into Russia during school trip

 Finnish border guards are investigating whether a group of students entered Russia during a school trip Thursday.

The ninth graders were on a field trip to Kangaskoski and the banks of the Kokkolan River, close to Finland’s eastern border with Russia, when they separated from the rest of the excursion group into the woods and purportedly entered Russian territory.

The Finnish Border Guard said that a patrol had spotted a group of people in the border zone, Finnish outlet Ilta-Sanomat reported.

After questioning the students, the guards discovered that 10 of them had entered the border zone, with five suspected of having illegally crossed the national border from Finland into Russia and back.

The students reportedly filmed themselves circling a red and green pole which marks the Russian border post.

The Southeast Finland Border Guard has launched a pre-trial investigation into the incident. As the age of criminal responsibility in Finland is 15, only students aged 15 and older may face legal consequences, the Border Guard said, according to Ilta-Sanomat.

“The matter is being processed by the border guard,” the school’s principal said. He said that the trip was planned in advance, but declined to provide further comment on the incident.