Finland is building a 200-kilometer fence on the Russian border amid mounting security fears Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine intensified.

What happened: The Finnish Border Guard said in a statement that field work “will start with forest clearing on Tuesday and will progress in such a way that road construction and fence installation can start in March”.

See also: Vladimir Putin condemns NATO’s “imperial ambitions” as fast-track membership of Finland and Sweden

Border Patrol said the fence will be three meters high with barbed wire at the top and the pilot project at the southeastern border crossing in Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June. The cost of the fence is expected to be approximately $597 million.

The Nordic nation shares the longest EU border with Moscow at 1,340 km. Currently, Helsinki’s borders are mainly secured by light wooden fences.

Finland’s decision to build the fence comes amid fears that Moscow could use the mass migration to exert political pressure Helsinki. The number of Russians trying to escape conscription to fight in Ukraine has surged after Putin announced partial mobilization last year.

In the meantime, Helsinki has also moved closer to accession Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty on Tuesday. The country’s parliament began discussing a bill to speed up its bid to join the alliance, with a vote expected on Wednesday.

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