Poland has started construction of an electronic barrier on the border with the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation to better control the situation at the border.
This was announced at a press conference on Tuesday by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country, Mariusz Kaminskiy, RMF 24 reports.
"The construction of an electronic barrier on the Polish-Russian border has begun. The work will be completed this fall. We will have full monitoring of what is happening on the border with Russia," the minister said.
An electronic barrier, i.e. a system of cameras and motion sensors, will be installed on 199 kilometers of the border. It will cover the entire land border with Russia, with the exception of the section of the Vistula Spit, where the border has been guarded by electronic devices for several years.
The area of the protective barrier will be divided into twelve functional sections. About 2,000 video surveillance poles, 3,000 video cameras and 700 km of power, transmission and signal cables will be installed on it.
As Kaminsky assured, the barrier on the border with Russia will be "incredibly modern" - the same as on the border with Belarus.
"Our eastern border, I am convinced, will be perfectly prepared for any illegal actions related to crisis situations with our eastern neighbors. I am convinced that it will be the best protected border in the European Union," the minister said.
More than 373 million zlotys (over $83 million) were earmarked for the construction of the electronic barrier, including 42 million zlotys (over $9 million) for strengthening the relief at certain sections of the border.
The spokeswoman of the Border Service, Lieutenant Hanna Mikhalska, reported that construction work has begun in the area of the border checkpoints in Bezlody and Sempopol.
The first works on the border lane of the road consist of pouring the foundations of the pillars for surveillance cameras and laying power and transmission cables.
The electronic barrier on the border with Russia is being built on the basis of the law on the construction of state border protection facilities. This law entered into force on November 4, 2021. It was adopted in connection with migratory pressure on the Polish-Belarusian border.
Since the beginning of November last year, the Polish army has installed a temporary barbed wire barrier on the Polish-Russian border.
In February, Poland began installing anti-tank barriers on the border with Russia's Kaliningrad region.
