Poland accuses Russia and its Belarusian ally of sending migrants from the Middle East and facilitating their passage to the borders of the European Union. To discourage the Kremlin in its enterprise, Warsaw sets up a physical barrier.
Three rows of barbed wire 2.5 meters high and 3 meters wide! This is Poland’s new project on the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. And the work has already started according to the Minister of Defense.
The Polish government wants to prevent Moscow from using the enclave as a crossing point for migrants and asylum seekers from the Middle East. Because since last year Russia and Belarus have been accused of accompanying migrants to the border and helping them cross illegally, reports our correspondent in Warsaw, Martin Chabal.
Warsaw fears a massive influx of refugees from Kaliningrad. Last week, the enclave’s airport signed contracts with Syrian, Turkish and Belarusian companies. Nationalities largely found among the migrants who were able to cross the border earlier in the year.
Following the launch of flights connecting the Middle East and North Africa with Kaliningrad, ” I have decided to take action to increase security on the border with the Kaliningrad enclave. We begin to build a temporary barrier there Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told reporters.
The Belarusian border also concerned
To prevent a migration crisis that Poland considers as a Russian and Belarusian “hybrid war” directed against it, Warsaw had already imposed in September 2021 an area about three kilometers wide and more than 400 kilometers long on its border with Belarus. This area was forbidden to all non-residents, including members of NGOs helping migrants and journalists.
Since the lifting of this measure last July, it is still forbidden to approach within 200 meters of this border, since protected by a metal barrier five meters high, being fitted with cameras and motion detectors.