Another NATO member state wants to wall off Russia

Justice Minister Emilie Mehl says Norway may take its cue from neighboring Finland, citing the issue of illegal migration

Norway could erect a fence along its border with Russia, Justice Minister Emilie Mehl has stated. The Nordic country, which shares a 198km frontier with its eastern neighbor, already installed a 200-meter-long barrier back in 2016, citing the need to curb the flow of illegal migrants.

Last April, nearby Finland started building its own steel mesh fence, which is expected to cover around 200km (125 miles) of the country’s 1,340km border with Russia by the end of 2026.

Helsinki has reported a surge in illegal crossing attempts from Russian territory since 2022. The Nordic nation has accused Moscow of deliberately funneling migrants from countries such as Somalia and Syria to the border crossings. Russia has dismissed these claims as “unsubstantiated.”

On Saturday, NRK broadcaster quoted Mehl as saying that, having seen a border fence erected in neighboring Finland, she came to the conclusion that a similar barrier may be needed in Norway as well.

“The border fence is very interesting, not only because it can act as a deterrent, but also because it contains sensors and technology that allows you to detect if people are moving close to the border,” she said, according to the report.

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The minister added that such a barrier could be erected all along the border with Russia, allowing Oslo to shut the frontier at short notice.

When the first such barrier was erected by Norwegian authorities back in 2016, the project attracted criticism from some politicians and activists at home.

The press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Oslo, Maksim Gurov, told NRK at the time that “it is incomprehensible to us what practical necessity this fence will have.”

Various fence-building initiatives have begun to materialize in several Nordic and Baltic countries over the past few years against a backdrop of rising tensions between NATO and Russia over the Ukraine conflict.

While Norway is one of NATO’s founding member states, Finland joined the US-led military bloc in April 2023, citing perceived security threats emanating from Russia. Helsinki thus abandoned a decades-long policy of neutrality and substantially downgraded its traditionally close ties with Moscow.