The new frontier: Finland bolsters its Russian border

‘Barbed wire curtain’ evokes Cold War barrier that divided Europe for decades

Finnish guard at the old border fence with Russia in Imatra, Finland
A Finnish guard at the old border fence with Russia in Imatra, Finland
(Image credit: Alessandro Rampazzo/AFP via Getty Images)

Finland is erecting barbed-wire fences along parts of its border with Russia as new physical barriers divide the European continent once more following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Part of a wider security realignment, it evokes memories of the Iron Curtain, the collection of barriers, walls and checkpoints stretching thousands of miles between the Baltic Sea and Mediterranean that divided the communist East and capitalist West during the Cold War.

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