North Karelia force says fence dividing Finland and Russia is no Berlin Wall – but it is now a key geopolitical faultline
Among the serene lakes, thick forest and summer houses of North Karelia’s border zone, the line between Finland and Russia is almost invisible. Walking along the border path in Meriinaho, part of the Finnish border guard station of Ilomantsi, we are closer to St Petersburg than to Helsinki. This is the most easterly point of the continental European Union.
Every now and then a discreet pair of matching striped fibreglass posts pop up from the blueberry patches on either side of the frontier. One is painted blue and white to indicate Finland, the other green and red to mark Russia.
Despite generations of tensions and several wars, until recently these sparsely planted bollards – plus surveillance by Finnish and Russian border guards – were deemed sufficient to demarcate the neighbours. But the mood on both sides of the 830-mile (1,340km) frontier, now also a critical Nato border, is changing fast.
Last week as he sat down at the White House with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump for talks on how to end the war in Ukraine, Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, drew on the border to convey to the US president Europe’s collective concern.
He told Trump: “We might come from a small country but we have a long border with Russia, over 800 miles. And we of course have our own historical experience with Russia, from world war two, the winter war and the war of continuation.”
In an attempt to strike a note of optimism, he added: “We found a solution in 1944 and I’m sure that we will be able to find a solution in 2025.” (more at):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/25/finland-fence-nato-border-russia
Miranda Bryant in Meriinaho, North Karelia Mon 25 Aug 2025 10.02 EDT