Northern Dimension to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the importance of the Northern Dimension has increased considerably: eight EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden) surround the Baltic Sea, and the EU’s shared border with Russia has lengthened. Recent years have seen far-reaching changes in the geopolitical map of northern Europe. The Baltic States regained their independence in 1991. Finland and Sweden joined the EU in 1995, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in 2004. These events greatly increased the Northern and Baltic “presence” of the EU, and substantially lengthened the common border shared by the
Illegal immigration to Russia has become so severe it has caused a rise in Russian nationalism, and spawned groups like Movement Against Illegal Immigration, which was banned by the Moscow City Court in 2011 on the grounds that it "ignites inter-ethnic hatred." Illegal immigration to Russia Illegal immigration to Russia (and the former Soviet Union) has been ongoing since the Great Depression. Source countries during that time included Finland, Poland, Sweden, and Germany. There are currently an estimated 4 million illegal immigrants from the former Soviet states in the Russian Federation. In 2012, the Russian Federal Security Service's Border Service stated there had been