Finland has begun construction of its planned 200km border with Russia, the country’s border guard said on Tuesday, as Helsinki fears Russia could use migration flows at the border for political purposes.
Work on the ground will begin “cleaning up” on Tuesday and will continue so that road construction and fencing can begin in March,” the Finnish Border Guard said in a statement.
The three-kilometer pilot project at the southeastern border crossing in Imatra should be completed by the end of June, he added.
The construction of another 70 kilometers, mainly in southeastern Finland, will take place between 2023 and 2025.
In total, Finland plans to fence off 200 kilometers of its 1,300-kilometer-long border with Russia at a cost of approximately €380 million.
The fence will be more than three meters high with barbed wire at the top, with particularly sensitive areas equipped with night vision cameras, lights and loudspeakers.
Currently, Finland’s borders are mainly protected by lightweight wooden fences, which are primarily designed to prevent livestock from wandering to the other side.
Fearing that Russia could use migrants to put political pressure on Helsinki, NATO candidate Finland passed new amendments to its border guard law in July to facilitate building stronger fences.
While the border between Finland and Russia has “worked well” in the past, Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen told AFP in November that the war in Ukraine has “fundamentally” changed the security situation.
Tolppanen said the border fence was “indispensable” to prevent large-scale illegal entry into Russian territory.
Finland saw an influx of Russians in September after President Vladimir Putin ordered the mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine.
Estonia, Latvia and Poland have also increased security on their borders with Russia or are planning to do so.
Source: DN
