Finland’s Border Guard Calls for Fence to Secure Russia Boundary

Vehicles queue to cross into Finland from Russia at the Vaalimaa border crossing.

Photographer: Sasu Makinen/AFP/Getty Images

Leo Laikola

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Officials guarding Finland's 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia are calling for a fence to help prevent potential uncontrolled mass-scale entry from the east.

Finland should build as much as 260 kilometers of fence in the riskiest spots along the demarcation, the Border Guard said in a press release Wednesday. A physical barrier is "necessary" to slow and control any crowds, it said. Finland's government is ready to back a pilot project to assess what it takes to build such a fence, Interior Minister Krista Mikkonen told reporters.