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Finland will fortify its border with Russia, after the country’s parliament authorized the erection of barriers allowing, in exceptional circumstances, the closure of the entire 1,300-kilometer border.
The July 7 vote by the Finnish parliament comes as the country moves rapidly toward membership of the NATO alliance, abandoning decades of neutrality following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The new law, which was overwhelmingly voted for, authorizes the government to build fences or other barriers near Finnish borders. It also limits all asylum applications that were previously processed at designated border points, including airports.
Finland, along with Sweden, last month received official approval to join NATO. Now each of the alliance’s 30 members must ratify the accession protocol, something that is already underway in some countries.
Public opinion in both Sweden and Finland shifted drastically in favor of NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Russia has condemned the Stockholm and Helsinki decisions and threatened unspecified retaliation.
For this reason, some members of the alliance have called for the swift accession of the two Nordic countries, saying that they will be at risk during the interim period of ratification, not being under the protection of NATO’s Article 5 — clause which stipulates that an attack on one member of the alliance is considered an attack on all members.
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