Finland Completes 124-Mile Border Fence With Russia After Hybrid Warfare Threats
Finland has finished building roughly 124 miles of fencing along its eastern frontier with Russia, a response to what Helsinki calls Moscow's weaponization of migration. A senior Finnish foreign ministry official says the barrier and a new border security law have proven effective against hybrid warfare.
Finland has completed construction of roughly 124 miles of fencing along its border with Russia, a physical barrier intended to stop the flow of migrants that Helsinki says Moscow has deliberately pushed toward Finnish territory as part of a hybrid warfare campaign.
Petri Hakkarainen, political director for the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, said the fence supplements the full closure of Finland's land border with Russia that took effect in 2023. He described the barrier as a secondary security measure designed to prevent unauthorized crossings and to give Finnish authorities time to respond to any sudden influx.
«We have in the past witnessed Russia's attempts… to instrumentalize migrants at the Finnish border,» Hakkarainen said. «Basically pushing migrants towards our borders, forcing us then to take them on.»
That tactic, he explained, forces the Finnish government to process large volumes of asylum claims at once, a burden that could destabilize society if carried out on a massive scale. Finland shares an 833-mile border with Russia, the longest of any European Union or NATO member state, making the frontier a critical line of defense for the alliance.
Finland closed its entire land border with Russia in 2023 after more than 1,300 migrants without visas arrived at its eastern crossings. Helsinki accused Moscow of weaponizing migration as an act of hybrid warfare, a charge the Kremlin denied. Moscow swiftly filed a formal complaint, condemning the closure as «Russophobic» and expressing «deep regret» over what it described as the end of decades of pragmatic, mutually respectful relations.
Hakkarainen said the border closures have proven «very effective» in stemming the flow. Beyond the physical barrier, Finnish lawmakers passed the Border Security Act, a temporary law that allows border authorities to restrict asylum applications and turn back migrants if a foreign actor attempts to destabilize the country by funneling people across the frontier.
The law sparked some initial debate over potential human rights and international law violations. Hakkarainen acknowledged those concerns but said national defense took priority.
«We take these concerns very seriously,» he said. «But national security and our own sovereignty… weighed more heavily in this conversation, though there is broad majority support for the act.»
The border fence initiative was launched after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that prompted the historically neutral Nordic nation to join NATO in April 2023. Moscow has long viewed NATO's eastward expansion as a direct security threat and has used it to justify reinforcing its western defenses.
As Russia remains locked in a war of attrition in Ukraine, Western officials have accused Moscow of launching widespread destabilization campaigns across Europe, ranging from disinformation to state-sponsored economic coercion intended to erode public trust. Finland's experience at its eastern border has become a case study in how a NATO member state can respond to such tactics.
Hakkarainen said Finland's perspective deserves attention because of its proximity to Russia.
«We think it's important to listen to those of us who live next door to Russia,» he said. «Listen to our analysis of the situation: we consider Russia to be a long-term threat to transatlantic security — not only to Ukraine, not only to Europeans, but to transatlantic security as a whole.»
Despite the heightened security posture, Hakkarainen said daily life in Finland remains normal. He credited the country's focus on preparedness and sovereignty for allowing citizens to live without disruption.
«We take our security and preparedness very seriously,» he said. «I would say not despite that, but because of that, we are able to lead very normal lives here — regardless of the neighbor we have.»
