Finland must have an independent and credible capacity to maintain a good border security level. The eastern border barrier fence that is to be built is an important part of this capacity. The barrier fence will improve the efficiency of our border surveillance here and now. It will support the management of disruptions at the border in a significant manner. In practice, a physical barrier fence is necessary in situations where illegal migration is instrumentalised or extensive. The barrier fence will also reduce Finland's dependence on the effectiveness of Russian border control.
Eastern border barrier fence project proceeds
The project is currently in an extensive construction stage, and new target areas are still initiated. The approximately 1 000 landowners in the target area have been heard, and they have been served the construction decisions, by which the right to use the fence area is redeemed. Trees have been removed from a 190-kilometre-distance on the fence area. Construction of the border fence is underway in 27 target areas from Virolahti to Raja-Jooseppi. Preparations for reception and maintenance of the first target areas are underway.
According to current plans, the fence will be built for a distance of approximately 200 kilometres along our 1,300-kilometer-long eastern border. The intention is to complete the entire barrier fence in 2026. Most of the fence will be located at the south-east border, which is a priority area for border control. It would not be a sensible option to build a fence that extends along the entire length of the border.
The barrier consists of a fence, the adjacent road, a deforested opening and a technical surveillance system, and will become an important tool for border surveillance. Not even this system is a solution to any threat on its own, but a part of overall border surveillance. The fence will give the Finnish Border Guard more time to react and facilitates the management of disruptions in a decisive way by detecting, preventing, slowing down and guiding people's movement at the border. In addition, the road that will be built next to the fence will enable the Finnish Border Guard to react considerably faster to events on the national border. Other means of enhancing border surveillance, such as increasing staff and technical surveillance in border regions, would be neither cheaper nor faster solutions than the fence. The life cycle of the fence is about 50 years, but the technical surveillance system must be renewed approximately every ten years.
The wire netting will be half a metre higher (3.5 metres) and denser than originally planned, in order to promote the barrier’s effect. The attachments and constructions of the fence, the gates and the cylindrical obstructions have been improved. Furthermore, the installation of ponton roads that are built on wetlands have been changed. The fence will be built on the border opening close to the border line. The technical monitoring solutions are further improved.
An environmental impact assessment was compiled of the fence project. On the basis of the said report, the South-East Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment decided that the environmental impact assessment, in accordance with the Act on the Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure (252/2017), will not be applied to the eastern border fence. The significant environmental impacts identified in the report will be considered in the fence project so that the impacts can be brought to an acceptable level. In addition to experiences in service, the behaviour of animals at the fence is examined.
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