THE Estonia’s interior minister blamed Russia today for “a hybrid attack operation” sending migrants to the Baltic country’s borders with the aim of undermining its security.

A total of 75 migrants, mainly from Somalia and Syria, have attempted to enter Estonia from Russia through the Narva border crossing since last Thursday, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported. None of the migrants applied for asylum and all were sent back, the interior ministry said.

Estonia has prepared to close border crossings if “migratory pressure from Russia escalates” and crack down on migrants if they try to enter outside official crossing points, Interior Minister Lauri Laanemetz told Reuters through a spokesman.

“Unfortunately, there are many indications that Russian border officials and possibly other agencies are involved,” he said.

“To put it bluntly, (the) ongoing migratory pressure on Europe’s eastern borders is a hybrid offensive operation,” he added.

Russian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Neighboring Finland also blames Russia for migration flows that Helsinki believes are instigated by Moscow.

On Monday, the Kremlin denied that Russia was deliberately pushing migrants towards Finland’s border, noting that Russian border guards were carrying out their duties according to the rules.

The Estonian interior minister said that migrants appear at the border of Estonia “organized and in groups of 7-11 people”, stressing that the situation on the Estonian-Russian border is “similar” to that in Latvia and Lithuania on their border with Belarus.

The two countries and Poland have accused Belarus of orchestrating the arrival of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa at their borders from 2021. Belarus denies the charge.