Finnish foreign ministry official details how Russia's 'hybrid warfare' reshaped border security

Russian tactics designed to disrupt European nations forced neighboring Finland to fundamentally rethink its border security, culminating in the recent completion of a new border fence along its eastern frontier.

Finland constructed roughly 124 miles of fencing along its border with Russia — a secondary security measure intended to stem the flow of unauthorized Russian migrants, Petri Hakkarainen, political director for the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, told Fox News Digital.

"We have in the past witnessed Russia's attempts… to instrumentalize migrants at the Finnish border," Hakkarainen said.

"Basically pushing migrants towards our borders, forcing us then to take them on." A sudden influx forces the Finnish government to process large volumes of asylum claims, which could destabilize society if carried out on a massive scale, he explained.

In response, Finland closed its entire land border with Russia in 2023.

Moscow swiftly filed a formal complaint, condemning the closure as "Russophobic." NATO ALLY POLAND WARNS RUSSIA, BELARUS PUSHING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS TOWARD ALLIANCE — AND THE US The Kremlin expressed "deep regret" over the move, claiming it replaced decades of "pragmatic, mutually respectful relations" with an anti-Russian political stance.

Finland shares an 833-mile border with Russia — the longest of any European Union or NATO member state.

The completed border fence supplements the border closures.

As Russia remains locked in a war of attrition in Ukraine , Western officials have accused Moscow of launching widespread destabilization campaigns, ranging from disinformation to state-sponsored economic coercion intended to erode public trust across Europe.

FINLAND’S FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS UKRAINE ‘IS NOW HOLDING THE CARDS’ AS RUSSIA SIGNALS TALKS "We think it's important to listen to those of us who live next door to Russia," Hakkarainen said.

"Listen to our analysis of the situation: we consider Russia to be a long-term threat to transatlantic security — not only to Ukraine, not only to Europeans, but to transatlantic security as a whole." Finland launched the border fence initiative after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a landmark conflict that prompted the historically neutral Nordic nation to join NATO in April 2023 .

Moscow has long viewed NATO’s eastward expansion as a direct security threat, using it to justify reinforcing its western defenses.

When Finland officially joined the alliance, Helsinki saw an immediate reaction: over 1,300 migrants without visa arrived at its eastern border.

FINLAND'S PARLIAMENT VOTES TO LIFT DECADES-OLD BAN ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN HISTORIC NATO DEFENSE SHIFT Finland accused Moscow of weaponizing migration as an act of "hybrid warfare," a charge the Kremlin denied.