Finland builds the first 35 km of fence on the border with Russia

Finland has completed the first 35 km of the 4.5-meter-high fence it is building on its closed eastern border with Russia to combat illegal migration. This was reported by Reuters with reference to the Finnish Border Guard.

Finland began construction of a 200 km long fence, with a total length of 1344 km of border between the two countries, last year in response to the influx of migrants, which, according to Helsinki, was deliberately organized by Moscow.

"The main purpose of the fence is to control a large number of people if they are trying to get from Russia to Finland," commented Antti Virta, Deputy District Commander of the Border Guard of Southeastern Finland.

Reuters journalists noted that after decades of peaceful relations with Russia, Finland joined NATO two years ago in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In 2023, around 1,300 migrants from third countries such as Syria and Somalia arrived at the Finnish border via Russia to seek asylum, until Finland closed all eight border crossings with Russia indefinitely to put an end to the phenomenon.

After Finland closed the border at the end of 2023, there were almost no migrants, but the Border Guard Service decided to build a fence.

"The border barrier is absolutely essential to maintaining border security," said Operations Manager Samuel Siljanen.

The fence consists of 3.5-meter-high metal rails topped with a meter-long roll of barbed wire and is equipped with cameras, sensors, loudspeakers, and lighting. It will be completed by the end of 2026 .

• on May 16, 2025, it was reported that representatives of Finland's energy industry proposed to build a number of wind farms along the eastern border with Russia.
• On May 19, the NYT wrote that Russia is strengthening military infrastructure near the border with Finland. NATO believes that in five years Moscow could attack the country.