Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) said on Saturday that Finland is joining the other Nato countries bordering Russia to create a so-called ‘drone wall’ to protect their borders.
Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė announced the plan to the Baltic News Service on Friday evening after meeting with Rantanen and the interior ministers of the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine and Norway in Latvia.
Speaking on the Yle current affairs programme Ykkösaamu on Saturday, Rantanen said that the six Nato allies bordering Russia are cooperating to develop the system.
The project is aimed at protecting Nato's eastern border from provocations and smuggling, she said, adding that drones are well suited for such defensive operations along the long land border.
Rantanen said the project planned by Finland, Norway, Poland and the Baltic countries will "improve with time," suggesting it might be a gradual, long-term plan.
"Instrumentalised migration, cyberattacks, disinformation, sabotage"
"The entire region is facing similar threats coordinated by Russia and Belarus – instrumentalisation of migration, cyberattacks, disinformation, sabotage of critical infrastructure and other hybrid threats. Therefore, we need joint efforts to increase resilience and readiness to counter these threats. First of all, we have to think about the evacuation of the population on a regional scale, as well as the protection of the external border of the EU with drones," Bilotaitė said on Friday.
Russia's land border with Nato more than doubled just over a year ago when Finland joined the alliance. The two countries have a 1,340 km land border. With Sweden’s accession to Nato this past March, all countries bordering the Baltic Sea besides Russia are now Nato members.
Rantanen expects opposition support for deportation law
Rantanen also commented on the controversial border security bill that the government submitted to Parliament on Tuesday. She said the proposed ‘pushback’ law is intended to prevent instrumentalised immigration across the eastern border.
If the law comes into force, most arrivals would not be allowed to apply for asylum at the Finnish border. Exceptions would be made for individuals deemed by Finnish border officials to be in particularly vulnerable position, such as children and people with disabilities, as well as people considered to be at risk of the death penalty or torture, for example.
These issues would be evaluated by the border guards at the border, who would have great responsibility for identifying the vulnerability of asylum seekers. According to Rantanen, Border Guards will be trained to ensure that they have sufficient skills.
According to Rantanen, the presumption would be that anyone who tries to cross the border without justification will be returned to Russia, even if Russia does not agree to accept them. Rantanen declined to elaborate on how that would take place in practical terms.
"It is the duty of the Border Guard's operational planning to ensure that it is realised," she said.
Rantanen expressed confidence that Parliament will approve the law, which has been criticised by an array of NGOs including the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
The bill requires a five-sixths majority to pass, meaning in practice that it will need the support of the largest opposition party, the SDP, to become law.