Finland Completes Second Section of Border Fence With Russia
Border fence in Finland. X/ @KainuunRaja
June 25, 2025 Hour: 7:27 am
The parliament approved the fence project in 2022, with plans to eventually cover 200 km of the 1,300-km border.
On Tuesday, the Finnish Border Guard stated that Finland has completed the second section of its border fence along the eastern frontier with Russia.
RELATED:
Nobel Laureates Urge Baltic States, Poland, Finland to Reconsider Landmine Treaty Withdrawal
The newly constructed stretch is located in the north-central region of Kainuu and consists of eight segments spanning approximately 18 km. This follows the completion of the first 35-km section.
“The main purpose of the fence is to control a large mass of people if they are trying to enter from Russia to Finland,” said Antti Virta, Deputy Commander of the Southeast Finland Border Guard District.
“The border barrier is absolutely necessary to maintain border security. It improves our ability to perform border surveillance and to act if there’s a disruption or incident at the border,” Samuel Siljanen, Head of Operations at the Finnish Border Guard, stated.
Finland’s parliament approved the fence project in 2022, with plans to eventually cover around 200 km of the country’s 1,300-km border with Russia. Construction began in 2023, with each segment including a steel mesh barrier, a service road, a cleared buffer zone, and a technical surveillance system.
The Kainuu section features technological upgrades compared to the initial pilot segment built near the southeastern town of Imatra. These updates include an AI-powered surveillance system capable of distinguishing between humans and animals to reduce false alarms, and a loudspeaker system that enables remote communication with individuals near the fence.
Meanwhile, all land-based border crossings between Finland and Russia have been closed since December 2023, following a series of government decisions.
The ongoing closure has drawn domestic criticism, with critics warning it could violate international conventions. Some Finnish citizens with family ties in Russia have also expressed concern about the disruption to long-standing cross-border travel.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: Xinhua – Knightsbridge Research
