Poland starts construction of electronic barrier on Russian border

Poland has begun construction of an electronic barrier – consisting of cameras and sensors – along its border with Russia. Work is due to be completed by autumn.

“I am convinced that it will be the European Union’s best-secured border,” said interior minister Mariusz Kamiński, announcing the plans today. “We will have full monitoring of what is happening on the border with Russia.”

“Our eastern border will be perfectly prepared for all kinds of illegal activities related to crisis situations with our eastern neighbours,” he added.

Poland will install some 3,000 cameras along the border, which runs for around 200 kilometres (124 miles) along the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The barrier will also be equipped with a perimeter system that analyses vibrations, reports Polskie Radio.

“Thanks to this, without being physically at the border we will be able to monitor it for 24 hours [a day], seven days a week. We will have information about every movement,” said border guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska. She added that “animals will be able to cross the barrier freely”.

The contract for the work, which is being carried out by security systems manufacturer, Telbud S.A., amounts to over 373 million zloty (€80.76 million).

The new security installations on the border with Russia follows similar measures taken last year on Poland’s frontier with Belarus.

Those came in response to attempts by tens of thousands of migrants and refugees – mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – to cross from Belarus into Poland with the encouragement and help of the Belarusian authorities.

Last year, following concerns that Russia could seek to engineer similar crossings over its border with Poland, the Polish defence minister ordered the construction of a razor-wire barrier along the frontier.

Main image credit: Border Guard

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.