Finland begins construction of a wall on the border with Russia

MADRID, 28 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Finland has begun on Tuesday the construction of a wall on the border with Russia, at the crossing located in the town of Imatra, in the southeast of the country.

The wall, which is expected to be built by the end of June, is about three kilometers long. It is a first test construction with a view to extending its layout. The construction also includes the erection of fences and the installation of motion sensors, reports the Yle network.

It is expected that the construction will pass through privately owned land, so the State will have to negotiate with its owners before continuing with some works that they trust will expand up to about 200 kilometers.

Finland and Russia share a border of some 1,340 kilometers, the longest among all the countries of the European Union. The construction of the wall was endorsed by an important part of the Finnish parliamentary arc in October 2022, after the Social Democratic government of Sanna Marin justified it to control the possibility of an increase in illegal crossings.

In September, Finland approved the closure of the borders to Russian tourists, in full migratory escalation derived from the partial mobilization announced that same month by President Vladimir Putin, thus adding to the restrictions in this regard that the Baltic countries and Poland.