Norway Considers Building Border Fence with Russia

Justice Minister Emilie Mehl says Norway may follow its neighbor Finland’s example, citing illegal migration as a concern.

Norway might construct a fence along its border with Russia, according to Justice Minister Emilie Mehl. The Nordic nation, which shares a 198km boundary with its eastern neighbor, already installed a 200-meter-long barrier in 2016, citing the need to control illegal immigration.

Last April, nearby Finland began building its own steel mesh fence, which is anticipated 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 directing 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, after observing a border fence erected in neighboring Finland, she concluded that a similar barrier might be necessary 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.

The minister added that such a barrier could be erected along the entire border with Russia, enabling Oslo to close the frontier at short notice.

When the first such barrier was erected by Norwegian authorities in 2016, the project drew 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 in recent years against a backdrop of escalating 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 alliance in April 2023, citing perceived security threats emanating from Russia. Helsinki thus abandoned a decades-long policy of neutrality and significantly downgraded its traditionally close ties with Moscow.