A border fence is being built against Russia – it costs several hundred million euros

On Tuesday, the Riksdag parties met under the Prime Minister True Marines To discuss security on the border with Russia, in particular the construction of a fence on the eastern border.

The parties agree to build. This is after the border guards considered that Finland needs a fence.

– As prime minister, I do not question the opinion of the border guards on this matter, he said Sana Marine (SDP) on the way to the meeting.

The True Finns and the Unity Party were the first parties to highlight the need for a fence on the eastern border.

Many laughed when we proposed a fence a year ago, says Samlingspartiet chief Petri Urbo.

The head of the coalition, Petteri Urbo, wanted before the meeting the wall to be built faster than planned. After the meeting, he expressed his satisfaction with the construction plans for this year and next.Miko Stage / Letikova

The border guards estimated that the fence could be built in 3-4 years. Before the meeting, Samlingspartiet wanted the government to speed up the pace.

We have a crisis here and now, says Urbo.

After the meeting at the Riksdag, Orbo’s tone was more subdued, after announcing that the financing of the fence had been secured, and that construction itself would begin immediately after the initial trial construction.

The plan is for the construction of the fence to begin with a pilot project where a few kilometers of the fence will be tested on the border in southeastern Finland.

Based on the technical expertise of the pilot project, construction will then continue in a section that will cover 130-260 km of the more than 1,300 km long border with Russia, mainly in southeastern Finland.

For the pilot, six million euros have been reserved in this year’s supplementary budget, and then around 140 million euros next year, in a supplementary budget proposal for 2023.

The total costs of the fence are estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros. The fence should be built in places where it is easy to cross the border without permission.

In most places, the border with Russia is ten meters wide, devoid of a fence. Much of the monitoring is done through technical monitoring, for example cameras.