The Finnish Border Guard supports border surveillance in Latvia
The Latvian Border Guard requested border surveillance support from Finland. Based on this request, the Finnish Border Guard sent a support group to Latvia.
The support division consists of border control patrols, which carry out similar border security duties in Latvia as they do in Finland. Support will be provided until 22 September. The request for support is based on the cooperation agreement between the Finnish and the Latvian Border Guards.
The pressure resulting from illegal migration has increased at the border between Latvia and Belarus during 2025. Latvia has enhanced its border surveillance since March. Estonian and Lithuanian border authorities have already supported Latvia with their resources.
The Finnish Border Guard constantly has officials in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe via the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex. In 2025, Finnish border guards have been supporting maintenance of border security in twenty different European countries. The border security of the target state is supported by these assignments.
– Providing and receiving border security support improves the Finnish Border Guard’s capabilities and readiness to react to promptly changing and unpredictable border situation both in Finland and elsewhere in the Schengen Area, states Border Security Specialist Topi Räsänen from the Finnish Border Guard Headquarters.
– By supporting border security elsewhere at Schengen Borders, we also directly support the Finnish border security, Räsänen estimates.
These assignments improve the professional competence of the Finnish Border Guard’s personnel, as well as increase their perspective of the European border security situation and of its development in different countries. Finland also receives support via Frontex. Frontex officials are continuously posted in Finland to support the Finnish Border Guard in border security duties. The professional competence of Finnish border guards is highly appreciated throughout Europe.
