Polish-Belarus electronic border barrier ready
An electronic fence on Poland’s border with Belarus has been completed and is now operational along 206 kilometres of frontier, a spokesman for the Polish Border Guard has said.
"The Border Guard has already started to take over the last stretch of the barrier, the completion of which had been delayed by a flood," Anna Michalska told PAP on Thursday.
In 2021, Poland experienced heightened migratory pressure on its border with Belarus with thousands of migrants trying to get into the country. Warsaw blamed the crisis on the Belarusian government, saying it was flying in Middle Eastern and African migrants on the false promise of easy access to the EU.
As a result of the crisis, Poland erected a fence along its border with Belarus and later decided to upgrade it with electronic surveillance equipment, including CCTV cameras and night vision.
Michalska said that the last stretch - out of a total of 11 - was 25 kilometres long but a 150-metre length of it had been flooded a month ago which made it difficult to complete.
The electronic barrier, which cost an estimated PLN 343 million (EUR 71.8 mln), comes packed with surveillance and detection equipment including 3,000 CCTV cameras and night-vision equipment.
Recently, Poland has started to erect an electronic barrier on the Polish-Russian border, which is to be completed in the autumn. According to the interior minister, the fence is needed to monitor activity on Poland's frontier with Russia's Kaliningrad Region.
