Poland: 2.5-meter-high fence on the border with Belarus to stop migratory flows

Poland announced today that it will erect a 2.5-meter-high fence on its border with Belarus and step up its military patrols along the border to prevent migrants from entering its territory.

Warsaw and the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) have complained of a “hybrid attack” organized by Belarus, which they say encourages migrants to cross illegally into European Union territory.

Defense Minister Marius Blazak said today that a new double-barbed wire fence, similar to the one erected on the Serbian-Hungarian border, would be added to the existing one, which is about 130km long.

In recent months, thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed the border into Belarus heading for European territory, which the EU sees as a form of retaliation against the Lukashenko regime in response to sanctions imposed by Brussels.