The height of the fence between Finland and Russia is about 3 meters. It will be equipped with lights, surveillance cameras and barbed wire. A road will also be built along the fence so that border guards can move easily. There are openings for animals.
Not all borders are based on it. “We are building in areas accessible by car and where there is likely to be large-scale illegal immigration,” General Jari Tolpanen of the Finnish Border Guard said on Friday of the works. It took place in Imatra, about 250 kilometers northeast of the capital, Helsinki.
The general describes the situation on the border as stable. Last year, Finland arrested 30 people who crossed the border illegally. According to the Finnish authorities, Russian border guards detained eight hundred people who tried to do this.
“But in this completely changed security situation, Finland should have more credible and independent border control,” says Tolpanen. Finland must become less dependent on Russian border controls.