Finland Shocks Russia with Start of Construction on NATO Border Fence

In Imatra, Finland the work of building a fence which has barbed wires all around it just began near Russia. The purpose of this barrier is to stop people from entering without permission. This new addition to Finland’s long border with Russia came about less than two weeks after Finland officially joined NATO as the 31st member.

On Friday, the Finnish government presented the first part of a fence they are constructing near Imatra. This town has around 25,000 people and is located near a crossing point with Russia. Finland’s border with Russia is 832 miles long and it is the biggest border out of all European Union countries.

The government, which is led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin, approved a plan last year to build a border fence. This fence is tall (as tall as 3 meters or 10 feet), made of steel and has barbed-wire running along the top. All of this is being done to keep people from entering Finland illegally from Russia and to allow authorities enough time to react.

In 2015 and 2016, Moscow tried to affect Finland in a certain way. To do that, they moved around lots of refugees from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to the Northern borers of Finlands near Lapland. It seemed like the Russians were doing this on purpose.

Russia showed its power by solving a problem when the Presidents of Finland and Russia, Sauli Niinistö and Vladimir Putin, had talks. This made the migrants stop coming to Finland, which has 5.5 million people and just joined NATO on April 4th. So now, Finland wants to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.

Border guards know that it was when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year that Finland decided to become a part of NATO. This is why they quickly put up a fence along their border.

Before the war began in Ukraine, building a border barrier fence was not even being discussed. It also wasn’t part of any plan from the Finnish Border Guard. However, this all changed with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen from Finland’s Border Guard told Big Big News about this change.

The fence is going to be completed by this summer and will stretch out for 124 miles. It will cover parts of Finland located close to the Russia border and up in the north in Lapland. When all is said and done, it will be up to 200 kilometers long.

Tolppanen said that in this new situation, we must have a better border control system. We need more people and resources to help manage large amounts of illegal immigration and the fence could be used to do that.

Imatra is a small town which is located just 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) away from Svetogorsk, a big Russian industrial city. Imatra is about a few hours’ drive from St. Petersburg, the second biggest city in Russia, and it has had many interactions with Russians – tourists, short-term visitors and permanent residents.

Antero Lattu, who is the vice chairman of Imatra City Council, said they aren’t scared of Russians because the border between them has always been there and was never opened. He also added that the people living in Imatra are happy that this border exists.

Erkki Jouhki, who works as a town planner, agreed that being part of NATO gives Finland more protection. He also mentioned that Finland has strong military forces and modern arms to defend themselves against Russia.

The project to build a border fence will require 380 million euros in total and should be finished by 2026.

In Finland, the border that separates it from Russia mostly passes through some big forests. In a few places, there are small fences and tall posts made of wood that are meant to keep animals away from crossing the boundary. Jari Tanner in Helsinki was part of making this article possible. Click on the link below to read more about what’s happening between Ukraine and Russia.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://bigbignews.net/russia-ukraine