Italy's Meloni says security threat posed by Russia is far-reaching

SAARISELKA, Finland (Reuters) -Russia poses a bigger threat to European Union security than just defence as Moscow can use illegal immigration and other issues to undermine the bloc, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday.

Finland hosted the leaders of Italy, Sweden and Greece, as well as the EU foreign affairs chief, in its northern Lapland region at the weekend to discuss security in the Nordic region and the Mediterranean, as well as migration challenges in southern Europe.

"We have to understand the threat is much wider than we imagine," Meloni, who leads a conservative government, told a press conference when asked about Russia.

The danger to EU security from Russia or from elsewhere would not stop once the Ukraine conflict ended and the EU must be prepared for that, she said.

"It's about our democracy, it's about influencing our public opinion, it's about what happens in Africa, it's about raw materials, it's about the instrumentalisation of migration. We need to know it's a very wide idea of security," Meloni said.

She urged the EU to do more to protect its borders and not let Russia or any "criminal organisation" steer the flows of illegal migrants.

Some EU members including Finland and Estonia have accused Russia of allowing illegal migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to enter EU states via Russia without proper checks, undermining the EU's security.

Moscow has denied Russia was deliberately pushing illegal migrants into the EU.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said securing his country's 1,340-km (833 mile) border with Russia was "an existential" question for Finland and for other EU members and NATO allies.

Meloni said the EU had been wrong in dealing with the issue of immigration over the years simply in terms of how to share the burden.

"Tackling the issue of illegal immigration solely as a solidarity-based debate was a mistake," she said. "The result is that we have been unable to protect our borders ... We want to defend our external borders and we will not allow Russia or criminal organisations to undermine our security."

While NATO remained "the cornerstone" of EU security, the bloc had to tackle wider challenges, Meloni said.

"Security also means critical infrastructure, it means artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, raw materials, supply chains. It means a new and more effective foreign and cooperation policy, it means migration," she said.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Writing by Valentina Za;Editing by Louise Heavens and Susan Fenton)