Finnish Border Guard Wants to Spend Hundreds of Millions of Euros on Border Fence Against Russia

Despite the fact that tourists and shoppers from Russia have been the backbone of the economy in eastern Finland, the Nordic country has been consistently restricting travel following the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, as part of the EU's self-maiming sanctions, even at the cost of lost revenues.

The Finnish Border Guard has recommended fencing off parts of the eastern border with Russia as part of a general security beef-up, to the tune of millions of euros, the newspaper Uutissuomalainen reported.

According to the Border Guard's own estimate, the fence would span 10-20 percent of the 1,300-kilometer border and cover up to 260 kilometers. The authority said the measure was warranted by the recent changes in the security environment, yet didn't provide a further explanation.

Building the fence would take between two and three years, according to the Border Guard. Should the funding permit, though, the construction could be sped up and carried out simultaneously in several locations. The fence would be designed to last 50 years.

Border Guard chief Lieutenant General Pasi Kostamovaara estimated that the fence would cost a few hundred million euros. This sum would also include the necessary monitoring and infrastructure arrangements to enable border guards to respond to illegal crossings immediately and without delay.

Kostamovaara identified south-eastern Finland, which borders Russia's Leningrad Oblast, as the most likely part of the country to host the fence, citing the highest cross-border traffic.

The Border Guard voiced a readiness to build a test section of the fence as soon as next winter and spring. The rest could be build subsequently, based on experiences from the test section.

Interior Minister Krista Mikkonen said the Finnish government is set to discuss fencing sections of the eastern border in the near future.

Following the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, Finland has been one of the main transit countries for Russians entering Europe, especially after the EU closed its airspace for Russian planes and flights. Despite a substantial tightening of visa rules throughout the bloc, since mid-September, Finland has been the only EU country bordering Russia with a land border open to Russians.

However, last week, Finnish authorities announced that a principled decision to ban tourism and transit from Russia had been made. In recent months, a number of senior Finnish politicians, including Prime Minister Sanna Marin and President Sauli Niinistö, had spoken in favor of imposing various visa restrictions on Russians. Among others, Niinistö called for removing the fast-tracking of visas to Russian property owners in Finland, suggesting that visas were “not a subjective right.”

In recent decades, tourists from Russia have been a pillar of the economy in the eastern part of Finland, with numerous border towns depending on Russian shoppers for income. The restrictions on Russian tourists have cost Finnish communities millions of euros in lost revenues.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said that restricting the travel of Russian citizens for political reasons only aggravated the confrontation in bilateral relations and stressed that Russia reserves itself the right to retaliate.