Finland is already carrying out works on its future iron curtain on the huge border with Russia

Finnish border guards presented this Friday the project of the future iron curtain that will occupy part of its immense border with Russia, of 1,340 kilometers, and that it is a result of the war in Ukraine.

The military unit invited the press to visit the works of the first section, three kilometers long, on the border, near Imatra, in the south-east of the country, days after Finland joined NATO.

Finland, which shares a 1,340 km border with Russia, officially joined the Atlantic Alliance on April 4, ending decades of neutrality, and held its first joint exercise with NATO on Thursday.

The Scandinavian country had announced its arrival bid in May with Sweden shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But Sweden did not get the green light from two NATO members, Hungary and Turkey. To become a member of the Alliance, the votes of all member states are needed.

Finland, which held huge military reserves with hundreds of thousands of mobilizable civilians, contributes significant military resources to NATO.

Iron carriage

In total there will be 200 kilometers of barbed wire, three meters high and surrounded by a road. According to the estimated budget, the infrastructure will cost 380 million euros.

70% of this metal fence will be on the southeastern border, the closest of the dividing line with Russia, according to the yet-to-be-finalized layout presented Friday.

Barriers will also be erected further north, along the largely uninhabited border, stretching towards Lapland and the Norwegian border, in the Arctic.

“There will be several dozen sections in front of the fence,” Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen explained to the press, citing as an example “the border crossings and their surroundings, the roads that cross the border and the areas that are easily accessible by a means of transport” . mean”.

At the pilot site where the fence is being built, six kilometers from Imatra, cranes are already busy removing felled trees, but the fence has not yet been installed.

Work started at the end of February and the The last phase of lifting the barrier will in principle end in 2026.

In 2025, about 70 kilometers will have been built.

Finland’s borders are currently secured with light wooden fences, designed to prevent the passage of livestock.

This was also the case during the Cold War, when the Nordic country was forced into forced neutrality by Moscow after World War II.

Russian invasion led to decision

The southeastern border was drawn in 1940 and formalized in 1947, after the Soviet Union annexed much of Finnish Karelia, leading to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents. Since then she had been inadequately equipped.

Last year, three decades after the end of the Cold War, Finland made the decision to put in a chain link after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

The authorities presented the project as a way to prevent migration flows from being instrumentalised, as in Belarus.

“It is the only effective and safe way to control large-scale entry,” General Tolppanen stressed. “We need to reduce our dependence on the effectiveness of control on the Russian side of the border,” he explained.

This new iron curtain ends a period in which the Finnish border region committed itself to dialogue with Russia to ensure its prosperity.

Most residents advocate for their land to turn its back on its gigantic neighbour, although the usefulness of the fence also raises doubts.