Poland opens first section of electronic barrier at border with Belarus

November 19, BPN. Polish officials opened the first section of an “electronic barrier” on the border with Belarus on November 18, PAP reported.

The barrier is virtually a system of CCTV cameras and motion sensors.

Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński recalled that one year ago there, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, the migrant crisis aggravated and hostile attempts were made to cross the border: “The scenes that we wanted to avoid but that were given to us by the Belarusian regime. And in fact, this action was preparation for the war in Ukraine.”

The situation is relatively calm now, he added. “A few months ago we put in service a 5.5 m high engineered barrier in service. On Friday, we are opening the first section of the electronic barrier,” he said.

These two barriers would play an extremely important role in countering illegal migration, which, he said, originated from political plans to destabilize the region.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated on November 8, 2021 when thousands of migrants set up a camp near the Polish border. The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.

Migration figures had dropped significantly by the time Russia invaded Ukraine, but have risen more recently.

On February 24, 2022 Russia launched a full-scale war against the Ukrainian people. The authorities in Minsk deny that the Belarusian military participates in Russia’s hostilities. At the same time, the territory of Belarus was actively used by the Russians to attack Ukraine at the outset of the invasion and in some later periods.