Finland has officially completed construction of a 200-kilometer border barrier on its eastern frontier with Russia, the Finnish Border Guard announced on Monday. A completion ceremony was held near the closed Nuijamaa crossing point in southeastern Finland.
The 4.5-meter-high fence has been installed along the most vulnerable stretches of the roughly 1,340-kilometer border — the longest land frontier between an EU and NATO member and Russia. The barrier covers about 15 percent of the entire line. The longest sections, totaling around 140 kilometers, are in the southeast, in South Karelia and Kymenlaakso. Another 35 kilometers were built in North Karelia, and 25 kilometers in Kainuu and Lapland.
The complex consists of a metal fence topped with barbed wire, surveillance cameras, lighting, loudspeakers, and sensors. A patrol road runs alongside it, together with a cleared strip about 25 meters wide. According to the Border Guard, the project was finished ahead of schedule and under the original budget: it cost 356 million euros against an allocation of about 380 million. Annual maintenance is estimated at 1.5 million euros.
Construction affected land belonging to about 1,000 owners in 17 municipalities, from Lapland to the Gulf of Finland coast. The state paid roughly 3 million euros in compensation.
A pilot section was built in spring 2023 near Imatra. Large-scale work began in August 2024. The project was first discussed in autumn 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a sharp rise in border crossings. In autumn 2023, Finland closed its crossing points with Russia after an increase in the number of foreigners trying to enter from Russian territory. Helsinki says the barrier is intended to prevent illegal entry and so-called directed, or instrumentalized, migration.
Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said at the ceremony that further reinforcement of the border may be needed in the future and called for EU funding for similar projects. Most of the frontier still runs through remote terrain and is monitored by patrols and technical means without a continuous fence. Crossing points with Russia remain closed.
