Originally Posted by
Bengo
Not necessarily a fence for direct military purpose. If you were looking forward, to a time pehaps when the RF was breaking up, or in other internal turmoil, a fence near the practical border crossing points would at least give you some measure of control over a flow of West-bound refugees.
N
this very much. The border itself is very well looked after already, not a squirrel crosses it without the Finns knowing it. Finnish border guards regularly share videos of immigrants like wild bores, bears and elks crossing the border.
Occasionally human beings try that as well but all are detained neverminding the crossing point.
The planned fence will be to contain a similar situation seen on the Poland/Belarus border with hundreds or thousands of people pushed towards the border by Belarusian officials.
Theres no point in fencing the entire border or make anything more robust as no one in their right mind would walk through tens of kilometers of Karelian forests to the border just to find themselves in the middle of Karelian forests either freezing in three feet of snow in the winter or being eaten by billions of mosquitoes in the summer while standing on a swamp up your loins. And still you'd be caught.
And for the same reason the Russkies would be rather adventurous trying to enter with military force out there. It would be more probable for them to succeed via roads than through the vastness of dense woods, deep swamps and plenty of lakes. However the roads are few and narrow. And surrounded by dense woods with local defenders.
When the SU broke up and especially during the coup there were serious concerns what should be done if there would've been a mass exodus towards west. This has been a scenario in the planning ever since although the politicians did a piss poor job in the early 21st century bowing towards Russia by signing the Ottawa treaty, allowing the Nord Stream, allowing russians to buy real estate from places they shouldn't have etc.
One may think what they will of PM Sanna Marin but she's really been a whirlwind of fresh air venting the relationship with Russia.