The Finnish border guards presented a detailed plan on Friday to strengthen the safety of their border with Russia, under tension since the invasion of Ukraine.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
A three -meter high fence, surmounted by barbed wire and 200 kilometers long, at a price of 380 million euros: this is what is planning to build Finland at its border with Russia. Thus, the Nordic country wishes to strengthen security at the border, explained the Finnish border guards on Friday 18 November.
Night vision cameras, lighting and speakers will also mark out the particularly sensitive areas, according to the presentation during a press conference of the project manager within the border guards, Ismo Kurki. The construction, divided into three phases, will start in March 2023 with the establishment of a pilot barrier over 3 kilometers in the border crossing of Imatra.
Depending on the results of this phase, the second step targets the construction, at the end of 2023, of an additional 70 kilometers of wall in the areas around the border passages. The government has already added an additional envelope in its budget with 6 million euros for the pilot phase and 139 million for the second.
Finally, the last phase should end in 2025 or 2026, according to Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen. “It is one of the biggest projects ever undertaken by border guards,” he told journalists.
The war in Ukraine “fundamentally” changed the situation
Fearing that Moscow would use migrants to exert political pressure, Finland, candidate for NATO, amended in July her border guard law to facilitate the construction of stronger barriers.
The new amendments make it possible to close passages to the borders and to bring together asylum seekers to specific points in the event of a large -scale entry attempt in Finland.
Although the border between Finland and Russia, mainly secured by slight wooden barriers essentially designed to prevent livestock from moving, has “worked well” in the past, the war in Ukraine has “fundamentally” changed The security situation. “In this situation, we have every reason to reconsider our device,” said Tolppanen.
For the latter, it means that “in an extreme situation” border guards “will be responsible for preventing entry into Finland”, a “new” task. According to him, the border barriers are “essential” to prohibit illegal entries on a large scale from Russian territory.
Estonia, Latvia and Poland have also increased or plan to increase security at their borders with Russia. In September, Russians flocked to Finland after the announcement by the Russian president Vladimir Putin, of the mobilization of reservists for the war in Ukraine. Helsinki then considerably restricted the entry of Russian citizens into its territory.