Poland finishes building Belarus border fence
Poland has completed construction of a barrier on its border with Belarus making illegal entry to the country impossible via that route, a senior government official has announced.
Stanislaw Zaryn, director of the National Security Department, announced the development in a Saturday tweet, adding: "The Polish border is the best defended in Europe today."
Construction of the barrier was in response to a migration crisis which started in the spring of 2021, blamed by Warsaw on Minsk's Alexander Lukashenko regime deliberately enticing migrants in an attempt to destabilise Poland and the EU in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Brussels.
The total cost of the border fence was about PLN 1.6 billion (EUR 330 million). The 186-km barrier consists of a five-metre steel fence topped with razor wire. In the next stage of the investment an 'electronic barrier,' will be added comprised of cameras, including thermovision surveillance equipment, and sensors.
The first stretch if this electronic surveillance infrastructure will probably be launched by the end of October, a Border Guard spokesperson said, with the entire length of the fence planned to be covered by surveillance technology by the end of the year.
