3 meters high, 200 kilometers long: Finland has started fences along the Russian border

The Reuters news agency reported on Friday that Finland was barely a member of NATO when it began building a barrier against Russia.

That should now change.

What are the Finns building?

The new steel mesh fence will be 3 meters high, fitted with barbed wire and “accompanied” by a road.

According to Reuters, the first part of the three meter high barbed wire fence decided by the government in Helsinki last year is being built in Imatra, 250 kilometers northeast of the Finnish capital.

By the end of 2026, about 200 kilometers of the most critical border sections should have been covered. The costs are estimated at 380 million euros.

What is the goal?

According to Finnish information, the primary concern is not protection against a Russian invasion. However, the fence will be equipped with surveillance equipment.

The border sections should be secured where migrants from Russia are most likely to be expected. Because the Finnish government fears that Putin could send a large number of them to Finland.

According to the Reuters report, Finland wants to avoid repeating the events on the eastern border of the European Union in Poland in the winter of 2021. At the time, the EU accused neighboring Belarus – a close ally of Russia – of creating a crisis by flying in migrants from the Middle East, issuing visas and forcing them across the border.

How tense is the situation in the border area?

The “Spiegel” quotes Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen of the Finnish Border Guard:

In 2022, Finland recorded 30 illegal border crossings, while about 800 attempts were intercepted on the Russian side, the Finnish Border Guard said.

According to the Reuters report, Poland and the Baltic states had already started erecting fences on their borders with Russia and Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Sources

(dsc)