 Finland starts building a fence on the border with Russia. Finland says it has begun construction of a 200km fence on the Russian border, as Helsinki fears Moscow could use migrant flows at the frontier for political purposes. Terrain work was set to begin with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March. The Finnish border guard said, the pilot project at the Imatra border crossing is expected to be completed by the end of June it added. Construction of a further 70km mainly in southeastern Finland will take place between 2023 and 2025. The announcement came as Finland's parliament progressed with its bid to join NATO, increasing the likelihood that it would leave its neighbour Sweden behind to rapidly enter the transatlantic defence pact. Fearing that Moscow could use mass migration to exert political pressure on Helsinki, Finland in July passed new amendments to its border guard act to facilitate the building of sturdier fences. At present Finland's borders are secured primarily by light wooden fences, mainly designed to stop livestock from wandering to the wrong side. The three kilometre pilot project at the southeastern border crossing in Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June it added. In total Finland plans to fence 200km of its border with Russia at a cost of around €380 million. The fence will be three metres tall with barbed wire at the top, with particularly sensitive areas equipped with night vision cameras, lights and loud speakers. Although the Finland-Russia border has worked well in the past, Brigadier General Jari Tolpanen told Agents France Press in November that the war in Ukraine had changed the security situation fundamentally.