The Finnish government has declared it will commence building a 200-kilometer fence on its border with Russia. Finland says the war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed its security situation, and fears Moscow could use migrant flows at the border to exert political pressure on the country.
Finland has started building its planned 200-kilometer (124 miles) fence on the Russian border, the Finnish border guard announced on Tuesday (February 28).
In a statement, the border guard said ground work would kick off on Tuesday "with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March." It also added that a three-kilometer pilot project at the southeastern border crossing in Imatra is set to be completed by the end of June.
The announcement comes as NATO candidate Finland fears Russia could encourage migrant flows at their shared border to apply political pressure on Helsinki.
Poland, Estonia, and Latvia have also bolstered security on their borders with Russia or have proposed to do so.
How is Finland securing its border with Russia?
Finland plans to build a further 70 kilometers – primarily in southeastern Finland – between 2023 and 2025.
In July, Finland passed new amendments to its Border Guard Act to enable the construction of more secure fencing.
In total, the Nordic country intends to fence 200 kilometers of its 1,300-kilometer border with Russia. The fence will stand three meters (10 feet) high and be equipped with barbed wire, night vision cameras, lights and loudspeakers. Costs are estimated to be around 380 million euros ($400).
Light wooden fences designed to prevent livestock from crossing over currently secure Finland's border with Russia.
According to Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen, the Finland-Russia border has "worked well" in the past, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine "fundamentally" altered Finland's security. Therefore, a border fence is "indispensable" in avoiding an influx of migrants from Russian territory, news agency AFP quoted Tolppanen as saying.
Russian nationals flocked to Finland in September last year after President Vladimir Putin commanded the mobilization of military reserves to fight in Ukraine.
With AFP