Finland reversed decades of military disengagement by seeking to join the military alliance in May, officially starting the accession process this week. Fearing that Moscow could use migration to exert political pressure, new amendments to the Border Guard Act make it easier to build stronger fences along the country’s 800-mile (1,300 km) eastern border with Russia. The goal of the law is to “improve the operational capability of the Border Patrol to respond to hybrid threats,” said Anne Ihanus, a senior adviser at the Interior Department. “The war in Ukraine has added to the urgency of the matter,” he added. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST As it stands, Finland’s borders are mainly secured with light wooden fences, mainly designed to prevent livestock from wandering off. “What we aim to build now is a solid fence with a real barrier,” said Sanna Palo, director of the legal department of the Finnish border guards. “In all likelihood the fence will not cover the entire eastern border, but will target locations deemed most important.” The new law also makes it possible to close borders and concentrate asylum seekers at specific points in the event of a large-scale attempted crossing. Helsinki also approved amendments to emergency powers legislation to better take into account various hybrid threats in the definition of “emergency”.
