Poland reinforces border with Russia's Kaliningrad amid fears of migrant influx
Poland has begun laying razor wire along its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the first step towards a more permanent barrier to prevent what it fears could become another migration crisis.
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Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday that a recent decision by Russia’s aviation authority to allow flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad led him to reinforce the border, which until now has not had a physical barrier.
Poland is concerned that Russia might try to use Kaliningrad to sow chaos as it did last year when it encouraged thousands of migrants, mostly from Middle Eastern and African countries, to cross into Poland from Belarus, a close Russian ally.
In early October the chief executive of Kaliningrad's Khrabrovo Airport told Russia’s Interfax news agency that the facility would seek to attract airlines from countries in the Persian Gulf and Asia, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Kaliningrad, with a population of about 1 million, is the northern part of what used to be the German territory of East Prussia and became part of the Soviet Union after World War II. It is also home to the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet.
Razor wire and cameras
Blaszczak said three rows of razor wire measuring 2.5 meters high and 3 metres wide would be installed along Poland's 210-kilometre border with Kaliningrad, accompanied by an electronic monitoring system and cameras.
The Polish side also will have a fence to keep animals away from the razor wire.
The installation is similar to what Poland put up along its border with Belarus, where it laid rolls of razor wire before building a high steel wall, which was completed in June.
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During the crisis, Polish and other European Union leaders accused the Belarusian government of masterminding mass migration to create chaos and division between EU countries.
Polish officials have said that the fence on the border with Kaliningrad is largely preventive, and that no illegal crossings of the border had taken place.
Tensions have risen over the exclave – which shares a border with Lithuania as well as Poland – since Russia invaded Ukraine and the EU imposed sanctions in response.
In June, Lithuania blocked Russia from using its railways to transport steel, concrete, coal, electronics and other sanctioned goods into Kaliningrad.
Lithuania lifted the ban the following month, after the EU specified that its restrictions only applied to transit by road, not by train.
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