Two weeks after its entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was finalized, Finland is moving ahead with the construction of a fence on its border with Russia. A boundary that extends more than 830 miles, it is the longest perimeter shared with Russia of any country in Europe.
The border fence will be made of steel, topped with barbed wire and will be about ten feet high. This will replace the current one, which is made of wood. The Finnish authorities aim to prevent a hypothetical invasion and to control the crossing of irregular immigrants fleeing Vladimir Putin's regime.
BREAKING:
Today, Finland started construction of the first section of its border fence with Russia.
The fence will be 3 meters high and equipped with cameras and barbed wire on the top.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 15, 2023
Finland started with the execution of the first phase of construction a few days ago in the town of Imatra, in the southeast of the Nordic country. This initiative proposed by the Finnish Border Guard in October last year was set in motion after the start of the Ukrainian war. Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen, head of the Finnish Border Guard's technical division, told The Associated Press:
The border fence was not any kind of political issue before the war (in Ukraine). And, in fact, it was not a Finnish Border Guard plan. Everything changed after the attack (by Russia against Ukraine). In this new situation, we must have much more credible and much more independent border control. We need to strengthen our resources. And the fence is necessary to manage, for example, large-scale illegal immigration.
