The Finnish Parliament amended its laws on Tuesday, July 5 to strengthen the fences on the border between Finland and Russia, when this Nordic country began its process of joining NATO.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Finland ended decades of military non-alignment by applying in May to join the Atlantic Alliance, a process that officially began on Monday.
"Improving the operational capacity of the border guard"
Motivated by fears that Moscow is using migrants to pressure Helsinki, new amendments to Finland's Border Guard Act will make it easier to build stronger barriers along the 1,300 kilometer border that Finland shares with the Russia.
The aim of the law is to "
improve the operational capacity of the border guard to respond to hybrid threats
", Anne Ihanus, an adviser at the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, told AFP.
“
The war in Ukraine has contributed to the urgency of the issue
,” she said.
Currently, the borders of Finland are only secured by light wooden fences, mainly installed with the aim of preventing livestock from grazing on the wrong side.
“
What we want to build now is a solid fence with a real barrier effect
,” director of the legal division of the Finnish border guards, Sanna Palo, told AFP.
“
In all likelihood, the fence will not cover the entire eastern border, but will be concentrated in places considered to be the most important
,” she explained.
Read alsoRussia has stopped delivering electricity to Finland
In a scenario of destabilization of the border via the influx of refugees, as recently between Belarus and Poland, the new law will also make it possible to close border posts and concentrate asylum seekers in specific places.
Finland has also passed amendments to its Emergency Powers Act to ensure that the definition of “
emergency
” better takes into account the different types of so-called hybrid threats.
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