470 km of fence on its borders with Russia

Fifteen years later, the Soviet Union began the construction of the Berlin Wall to divide Germany, thus materializing the metaphor used by the British Prime Minister. This wall resisted until its collapse in 1989which became a symbol of the end of the Cold War.

Now, more than three decades later, the walls have returned to Europe. But it is not Russia that raises them, but your neighbors. This same Wednesday, the Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, announced the “immediate” construction of a provisional barrier along its borders with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Warsaw has wasted no time and began the installation that same day, as it fears that Russia “launches a hybrid attack in the coming weeks.” Or what is the same: to open the door to the thousands of migrants concentrated on the borders and help them cross illegally in the midst of escalating tensions due to the war in Ukraine.

Especially since the Russian media have recently reported that Kaliningrad has opened its skies to flights from the Middle East and Asia in an attempt to attract more airlines and tourists, according to the agency Reuters.

[Kaliningrado y la ‘Pax Kantiana’: el Sueño de Stalin que Puede Partir en Dos a la OTAN]

The fence, made up of a triple row of barbed wire (such as those used by armies) will spread throughout the 210 statute kilometers on the eastern line linking Russia and Poland. It will serve to “seal the border”, as explained by the Polish official. However, it will be provisionalsince the goal is to build a permanent wall by the end of 2023.

“We want a fence like the one that already exists between Poland and Belarus,” which is about 2.5 meters high and 3 meters wide, Blaszczak said. It refers to the wall that began to be built at the beginning of the year after Warsaw accused Vladimir Putin of being behind the wave of migrants who tried to cross illegally into the European Union from Belarus last fall.

This episode, which has been considered a destabilization mechanism, also affected countries such as Lithuania, which this summer terminated the works of a fence of almost 550 kilometers that covers the border with Minsk. Years before, the Baltic country already had built a wall to protect the line of contact with Kaliningrad and block illegal immigration.

the wall of finland

Finland is the EU country most vulnerable to an attack by Russia, be it hybrid or conventional. Both powers share 1,3400 kilometers and a turbulent past: eight decades ago, the largest country in the world managed to seize a part of Finnish territory, the Karelia region.

Without going any further, when Putin announced the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists to go to the front this September, thousands of young people tried to flee of the country via Finland. The problem is that, since June, when Helsinki ratified its entry into NATO, its borders are also those of the Atlantic Alliance. And that has not been to the liking of the Kremlin, which has been threatening for months that there will be “serious consequences“.

[Karelia, la ‘Crimea’ que Finlandia perdió a manos de Rusia hace 8 décadas]

That is why, in the summer, the Finnish government approved urgently a series of legal reforms that allow it to deal with a supposed massive arrival of migrants. That is also why, in September, the country’s prime minister, Sara Marin, proposed erecting a fence to protect 20% of the border with Russia.

Last week, his proposal won the full support of Parliament, so construction of a wire fence is expected to begin shortly. 260 kilometers in the north. In principle, it will be several meters high and will be equipped with surveillance cameras and sensors, according to the Government of the Nordic country.