Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) Poland started construction of a wall on the border with the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. Warsaw fears that Moscow will use Kaliningrad to funnel illegal migrants into Poland, noting that Russia’s ally Belarus used illegal migrants as part of its hybrid war against the EU, according to DW reporting on Wednesday.
Mariusz Błaszczak, Polish Minister of Defence, pointed out at a press conference on Wednesday that the wall will be 2.5 metres high and 3 metres wide. He noted that the barrier is to be completed by the end of next year and added that it will help Poland to “seal” the border.
Błaszczak reminded that Russia’s aviation authority recently decided to start flights from North Africa and the Middle East to Kaliningrad, predicting that the move is aimed at facilitating illegal migration to the EU.
Russia noted that it wants to attract airlines from the region under its new Open Skies policy.
No crossings in October
The Polish Border Guard (SG) reported that no illegal migrants entered the country from Kaliningrad in October. “The Polish-Russian border is stable and calm… there has been no illegal crossing of the border,” SG spokesperson Anna Michalska noted.
“We are not only there in times of peace… we are prepared for various crisis situations and after what happened on the Polish-Belarusian border we are even more prepared for everything, for all of the darkest scenarios,” she concluded.
According to Błaszczak, the planned wall on the border with Kaliningrad will be similar to the wall constructed along the border with Belarus that was completed in June this year. He pointed out that the barrier will be temporary and concluded that it will strengthen Poland’s security.
Before the wall was completed, the EU accused Belarus of pushing migrants into the EU in an effort to destabilise the bloc, with Minsk rejecting the accusation.
The border crisis broke out in July 2021, with thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa ending up trapped between Belarus and Poland.
Both sides rejected responsibility for the situation in which 21 migrants died, with NGOs accusing the SG of pushing illegal migrants back across the border with Belarus.
