Finland Runs Major Border Exercise at Closed Russian Crossings, Frontex Personnel Deployed to NATO's Eastern Edge

• The exercise runs 16–20 March near three border crossings closed since late 2023 after Russia funnelled migrants toward Finnish checkpoints
• Frontex personnel and other international authorities are participating alongside Finnish national agencies
• Finland's border legislation was hardened in 2024, granting border guards expanded powers to turn back asylum seekers during instrumentalised migration
• The exercise location places NATO-affiliated forces directly at the 1,340-kilometre Finnish-Russian border

Finland's Southeast Border Guard (Kaakkois-Suomen Rajavartiosto) launched a large-scale border security exercise on Monday running through Friday 20 March, operating in the immediate vicinity of the closed crossing points at Imatra, Nuijamaa, and Vaalimaa on the Russian border. Iltalehti reports that the exercise involves Finnish national authorities, international partners, and personnel from Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

The three crossings have been shut since late 2023, when Finland closed its entire eastern border after Russia began channelling migrants — many from the Middle East and Africa — toward Finnish checkpoints in what Helsinki openly described as instrumentalised migration. The crossings have not reopened. Finland's parliament passed a new border security law in 2024 giving border guards the power to turn back asylum seekers without processing their claims during episodes of state-orchestrated migration pressure, a measure that drew protests from human rights organisations and quiet approval from most Finnish voters.

Deploying Frontex personnel to rehearse at these specific locations carries a message beyond routine preparedness. Since Finland joined NATO in April 2023, its 1,340-kilometre border with Russia has become the alliance's longest direct land frontier with Moscow. What was previously a bilateral Finnish-Russian border management question is now a NATO perimeter issue. The exercise suggests that both Helsinki and Brussels are treating the closed crossings not as a resolved problem but as a pressure point that could be reactivated. Russia demonstrated in 2023 that it could manufacture a border crisis in weeks; the exercise appears designed to ensure Finland and its partners can respond faster than the crisis can escalate.

The Finnish Border Guard has not disclosed the specific scenarios being rehearsed. The range of plausible threats runs from a repeat of the 2023 mass-arrival tactic to more complex hybrid operations — sabotage of border infrastructure, provocations involving Russian border personnel, or coordinated pressure across multiple crossing points simultaneously. Finland's geography concentrates the southeastern crossings in a relatively narrow corridor, making it both easier to defend and easier to overwhelm if multiple sites are hit at once.

Finland spent decades managing its Russian border through quiet bilateral cooperation. That era ended. The country now drills for border contingencies with an EU agency and allied partners, at crossings built for trade and travel that have been sealed shut for over a year. The fence sections Finland began installing along the border are still being extended — concrete and steel replacing the diplomatic assumptions that once held the line.

Sources: Iltalehti