JAKARTA - Finland completed the first 35 kilometers of the 4.5-meter-high fence it built on the eastern border closed with Russia to stop migrants crossing through the wild.
Finland began building a fence that would later cover 200 km of a total border length of 1,344 km, in response to migration through Russia through borders believed to have been deliberately regulated by Moscow.
"The main purpose of the fence is to control many people if they try to enter Russia into Finland," the deputy commander of the Southeast Finland Border Guard District, Antti Virta, told Reuters on Wednesday, May 21.
In Kuyajama, near one of the closed border crossing points, the atmosphere was calm, only the sound of bird tweets was heard on both sides of the new fence on Wednesday.
But Finland faced criticism, and not only from Russia, over the closure of the border and the construction of the fence.
After decades of peaceful relations with Russia, Finland joined the NATO military alliance two years ago in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prompting Moscow to threaten Helsinki with retaliation.
In 2023, about 1,300 migrants from third countries such as Syria and Somalia arrived via Russia on the Finnish border asking for asylum, until Finland closed all eight passenger crossing points to Russia indefinitely to end the phenomenon.
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Russia denies having regulated the flow of migrants. At the time, the Russian government said it deeply regretted Finland's decision to close crossings on its border, saying it reflected the anti-Russian attitude taken by Helsinki.
Almost no migrants came after Finland closed borders to passengers by the end of 2023, but Border Guards defended the decision to build the fence.
"Border barriers are absolutely necessary to maintain border security," said Samuel Siljanen.
"From the point of view of the Border Guard, it enhances our ability to carry out border surveillance, to act in the event of interference at the border or border incidents," he said, stressing the fence was necessary to combat migration.
The European Human Rights Court has asked Finland to clean up the closure of the border indefinitely.
The European Council's Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, last year warned Finland's temporary restrictions on asylum requests "will violate international obligations, including a ban on repatriation and collective expulsion".
The fence consists of a 3.5 meter high metal fence on which there are coils of barbed wire as high as one meter and is equipped with cameras, sensors, loudspeakers, and lights. The fence will be completed by the end of 2026, the Border Guard said.
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