Finland upgrades Salla border station for about €10 million

Finland is spending about €10 million to upgrade the Salla border guard station, even though the nearby border crossing has been closed since December 2023. The work follows a long-term repair plan, not changes in the eastern border’s security situation, Yle reports.

The station employs about 80 people who guard the border around the clock throughout the year. A new staff facilities building has opened, with showers, a sauna, a gym and larger changing and equipment storage areas. Each employee has a personal locker secured with an electronic lock.

Many of the station’s buildings date from the 1970s, and some accommodation has been demolished because it was no longer fit for use. A new accommodation building with beds for 18 employees is under construction and is expected to be completed in early 2027.

The staff facilities building cost €5.3 million and the accommodation building will cost €1.7 million. After those projects, the state property company Senaatti-kiinteistöt will carry out a full renovation of the main station building, which was completed in the 1990s. That work is expected to finish in late 2028.

Senaatti-kiinteistöt says the work is part of a joint development and repair plan with the Finnish Border Guard, under which the most urgent repairs are handled first. The Salla crossing has been closed since Finland shut its eastern border in December 2023. The security situation there remains tense, and the government is seeking to extend the Border Security Act because the threat of instrumentalised migration is still considered high.

The state has also built about 200 kilometres of barrier fencing along the eastern border, at a cost of €360 million.