Limits | “The starting point is that the fence stops pedestrians” – The head of the Border Guard considers the construction of a border fence essential

At the Border Guard the Government’s decision in principle on the visa ban for Russians to Finland is currently awaited.

The decision is expected possibly on Thursday, and the new visa regulations and entry restrictions could be implemented at the border as early as Friday, says the head of the Border Guard, lieutenant general Pasi Kostamovaara.

At the same time, there are signs that The Russian authorities would have started to stop conscripts trying to cross the border and would therefore not let them leave the country to the Finnish side.

“There are such signs. There is no information about large-scale activity, but a single piece of information has been received from a passenger who crossed the border,” Kostamovaara tells HS.

“Of course, you have to treat the information with caution,” he says.

There is now a lot of interest in Finland’s eastern border, not least because the number of Russians who have crossed the border has increased since the country’s move last week.

At the Border Guard another decision is also expected regarding the eastern border, i.e. a decision on the possible construction of a border fence on the border between Finland and Russia.

Finland’s land border with Russia is 1,340 kilometers long, of which the border guard has planned to build barriers only for part of the distance.

“We have estimated that 10-20 percent of the border would be justified to fence,” says Kostamovaara of the Border Guard.

In practice, the fence could therefore be at most more than 250 kilometers away. The fence is not planned for the entire eastern border, because construction would be expensive and practically also difficult. The border area has a lot of wilderness, a lot of lakes, ponds, streams and marshes.

The construction of the border fence is currently being investigated by the Ministry of the Interior.

Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen (vihr) has previously said in public that the border fence could cost more than a million euros per kilometer.

“If we look at Estonia, the border fences built there cost about 1.3 million euros per kilometer,” the minister stated in May.

Therefore, fencing could cost up to more than 200 million euros.

Border fence the necessity has been discussed in Finland for a long time.

Former Minister of the Interior Kai Mykkänen (kok) proposed a fence last November after asylum seekers from Belarus were taken to the borders of Lithuania and Poland.

Read more: Kai Mykkänen of the Coalition to the Democrat: A fence should be considered on the border with Russia – “Disgusting but unavoidable question”

The pressure on the construction of the fence has been increased by the Russian attack and the launch of the movement. With NATO membership, Finland’s eastern border will also become the border of the military alliance, and the longest land border that an individual NATO country has with Russia.

According to the head of the Border Guard, the border fence would increase the effectiveness and coverage of surveillance, the reaction speed of the border guards and would act as a significant retarder for crossing the border. In the event of a disturbance, the fence would also support the management of the situation.

According to Kostamovaara, the fence is necessary especially in exceptional situations, where there would be controlled pressure on migrants at the border or if there would be a large influx. Both situations could at the same time lead to limiting the application for asylum, i.e. to the centralization of the application for international protection.

Kostamovaara according to which a large part of the planned border fence would be located in Southeastern Finland.

The fence would also be built in the vicinity of the current nine border crossing points, i.e. practically in areas where unauthorized entry can be imagined to be concentrated.

Kostamovaara does not want to comment on the fence’s cost estimate or technical details. It is planned to build a road next to the fence along which the border guards could move. There would also be technical monitoring, i.e. at least cameras equipped with motion detectors and pattern detectors.

“The starting point is that the fence stops the pedestrian,” says Kostamovaara.

Construction could start immediately after the Government’s decision, and a shorter trial section of the fence would be built first. In total, the construction is expected to last two to three years. The service life is estimated to be around 50 years.

“Our eastern border is not an exception to the European Union’s eastern land border. Others have already had fences in use. It is the responsibility of the security authority to prepare for the worst situational developments,” says Kostamovaara.

Read more: In Finland, fencing of the eastern border is being considered, in Estonia the fence is starting to be completed – “Their problems will be exactly the same”

Finland the possibly erected border fence is also of interest in Russia. Kremlin spokesman From Dmitry Peskov was asked about it at a press conference, when the matter had become public again in Finland.

“We don’t know the details yet,” Peskov said according to the Russian newspaper Gazeta on Tuesday.

“Every state understands that every state wants to maximize its own security. The solution to building a fence is Finland’s, and it must be done from the point of view of border security,” answers Kostamovaara to the Kremlin’s interest.

“The background is a careful assessment of the change in the security environment,” says Kostamovaara.

“When Russia attacked Ukraine and relations with the West have tightened significantly, it has been estimated that the change in the environment will be thorough and long-term. It is wise to prepare for the most difficult situations. If they are possible, then you have to prepare for them.”

Kostamovaara according to the big thing behind the project is that the border fence would significantly reduce dependence on the effectiveness of Russian border control.

“The effectiveness of Russia’s border control has been good and still is, but there is a risk of change. The pressure of illegal immigration from Russia is directed at the border between Finland and Schengen. I don’t foresee it on a large scale, but we have to prepare for it,” says Kostamovaara.

Russia’s last week’s move has only strengthened the border guard’s situational picture in relation to the necessity of a border fence. “A fence would improve our situation at the national border, because it’s not just about the fence but also about technical control.”

The administrative committee of the Parliament considered already in June that, in the current security situation, Finland should prepare for the construction of permanent barriers on part of the eastern border.

The previous one once a fence was seriously planned for the eastern border in 2018. At that time, another type of fence was pending, which would have aimed to prevent wild boars from crossing the border and bringing with them African swine fever, a deadly hemorrhagic fever.

Read more: A wild boar fence will not be erected on Finland’s eastern border: it would be too difficult to build a barrier that could withstand the power of a wild boar in the dangerous landscape of eastern Finland

According to the plans, a wild boar fence would have been needed for almost 500 kilometers, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry gave up on the idea, because the barrier would not have been dense enough and the fence would have also harmed the biodiversity and fauna of the border area. The fence was estimated to have a debilitating effect on wolverine, lynx, bear and wolf populations.

According to Kostamovaara, nature values ​​are taken into account when erecting the border fence.

“The border fence has been planned with border security in mind and the details are still being worked out. The authority for construction is, and the construction will take place in compliance with environmental regulations. The fence would have gates at certain intervals, and they could be controlled from the command center. It can influence this theme,” says Kostamovaara.

The Russian bear could therefore still deviate from the gate of the border fence to the Finnish side.

At the border of course there is already a fence, both on the Finnish side and on the Russian side. On the Finnish side, there is a livestock fence and a reindeer fence lower than the planned border fence, but not the whole way. On the Russian side, there is a fence built after the Cuban Missile Crisis in the middle of the Cold War.

“The border fence on the Russian side runs from the Gulf of Finland to the Arctic Ocean. They still have the barbed wire fence in operational use,” says Kostamovaara.