Two people crossed into Finland near Imatra on Monday evening, days after a similar incident in Kainuu.The finished fence in the photo was photographed in Räikkölä, Imatra, last autumn. Image: Kare Lehtonen / YleYle News13:28Two people were arrested on Monday evening after crossing the eastern border from Russia into Finland without authorisation near Imatra, according to the Southeast Finland Border Guard.Deputy Commander Antti Virta said the pair are suspected of a state border offence. The crossing took place in a rural area where work on Finland's sets of eastern border fences still continues."The fence and its systems are not yet fully completed at that location, but it did make it possible to immediately apprehend the individuals near the border," Virta said.The two have since applied for asylum.According to Deputy Commander Antti Virta (pictured), unauthorized border crossings generally occur during the summer. Image: Tiina Jutila / YleVirta declined to comment on their nationality or reasons for crossing the border, citing the ongoing investigation."We are currently conducting investigations and the individuals have applied for asylum, so we are not making their personal information or motives public at this time," he said.Second case in daysThe incident follows another suspected illegal border crossing on Saturday, when two people crossed into Finland from Russia in Suomussalmi, in Kainuu.The Border Guard said there is no section of fencing at their crossing point in Suomussalmi. Those two individuals also applied for asylum.Operations chief at the Kainuu Border Guard Mika Keränen said authorities believe they may have fled the war in Ukraine.The pair told officers that they went through the frontier from Russia on foot. However, Keränen said their nationality has not yet been confirmed because they were not carrying travel or identity documents.The Kainuu Border Guard is continuing its investigation in cooperation with Russian border authorities.Border fence nearing completionFinland's 200-kilometre eastern border fencing effort is now close to completion.The Finnish and Russian border posts are seen on opposite sides of the border fence in Räikkölä, Imatra, in September 2025. Image: Kare Lehtonen / YleThe Border Guard said sections in Lapland and Kainuu are already finished and in use, while construction in North Karelia and Southeast Finland is more than 90 percent complete.Project manager Erkki Matilainen said the entire fence is expected to be completed by September, with only finishing work remaining afterwards.The 362-million-euro project was launched to strengthen border security and help Finland respond to potential attempts by Russia to use instrumentalised migration as a means of exerting pressure, including by directing large numbers of asylum seekers towards the Finnish border.