The Chief’s review – The Finnish Border Guard lives in time

The change in the security environment together with technological development have significantly affected the Border Guard’s operations during the past year.

The situation on Finland’s borders has remained exceptional and strained. The eastern border crossing points have been closed since December 2023 by Government decision while the serious border security disruption still continues. In the maritime area, the risk of sabotage concerning critical subsea infrastructure is constantly high, since the latest cable damage took place on New Year’s Eve 2025. Likewise, the risk of a serious accident and maritime pollution has increased due to the shadow fleet. However, our readiness and ability to safeguard our society’s critical functions have remained on a good level, and we have been able to further develop our capability.

Border Guard personnel have been employed as required by the situation with emphasis on the surveillance of terrain and sea borders, as well as control of the increasing border traffic at Helsinki Airport and the airports in Lapland. We have a good situational awareness concerning our external borders, and our readiness for different security situations has remained high. In 2025, irregular migration focused on Finland’s internal borders, whereby we have developed our situational picture and operative capability also in terms of surveillance of internal borders, as the phenomena linked to cross-border crime focus on internal traffic in a larger extent than before.

The need for operative support in border security has increased in Europe, whereby the cooperation between different actors has become more extensive and intense. The Border Guard actively participated in the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex operations both on land and at sea, as well as provided bilateral support for Latvia in combatting irregular migration on the border between Latvia and Belarus. The cooperation with NATO and the European gendarmerie developed further, as the Border Guard joined the European Gendarmerie Forces EUROGENDFOR as a partner member at the end of 2025.

The strategic projects furthering the Border Guard’s capabilities have proceeded as planned. Construction of the eastern border fence continued as planned and within schedule. The border fence, that is to be completed during 2026, improves our ability to control border situations and fundamentally extends the vast technical monitoring on the eastern border. In addition, the new multipurpose offshore patrol vessels and surveillance aircraft will be introduced to operative use in 2026–2027.   

The attitude, capability and competence of the Border Guard personnel are on a high level. The importance of competence was emphasised last year by creating a new competence management system. Our personnel has preserved their excellent ability to respond to all situations arising from the security environment.

The Border Guard adjusted its operations with approximately €24 million. The financial statements show that the implementation has been successful, even though we still have to continue these adjustments. The Border Guard develops its operative efficiency and economy continuously, while acknowledging that border security has a vital role in the overall safety of our society.

Chief of the Finnish Border Guard
Vice Admiral Markku Hassinen