90 91 SCAN ME BICYCLES COLLECTED BY BORDER POLICE AT THE RUSSIAN-NORWEGIAN BORDER Storskog (Norway), 2015 PHOTO SERIES OPENING THE BORDER AS A MEANS OF EXERTING PRESSURE ON FOREIGN POLICY In response, Norway swiftly erected a fence along its short border with Russia. Such border closures are neither unusual nor infrequent. By late 2022, the external border of the EU/ Schengen area had 19 border installations spanning a length of over 2,000 kilometres. Many of the fences and walls – some of them several metres high – were equipped with cameras, motion sensors and barbed wire. By contrast, opening a border can exert pressure on other countries. In 2016, Turkey signed an agreement with the European Union, pledging to take in refugees in exchange for financial assistance. In February 2020, however, the Turkish government suspended the agreement and opened the border to refugees heading for the EU. This was aimed at increasing pressure on the EU: Turkey demanded more help with taking in millions of people fleeing the civil war in Syria.
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