Finland announced on Friday that it plans on building high tech fences at its Russian border to be constructed beginning in 2023, CNN reported.
The $143 million project would see several barriers erected on the country’s eastern border with Russia, the Finnish Border Guard said.
“In the assessment of the Finnish Border Guard, the changed security environment has made it necessary to construct a barrier fence along part of the eastern border,” the Border Guard said. “If Russia reduces its border control, this may cause additional pressure at the Finnish end to control illegal entry. Finland cannot rely on the effectiveness of Russian border control.”
The 80 to 161 mile long fence will cover only a portion of the 830-mile border Finland shares with Russia. Surveillance technology and a border patrol will also be enacted.
The Finnish Border Guard’s chief of international affairs, Matti Pitkaniitty, tweeted that the barrier “is much more than just a fence. It is whole new border infrastructure and new approach to border surveillance.”
The fence’s completion will likely take three to four years. The Border Guard said the fence will last for approximately 50 years.
Finland’s border was the main entry point that Russians fleeing the country used to migrate into Europe after most EU nations closed their airspace and borders due to Russia’s Ukraine invasion.