Poland completes construction of wall on border with Belarus

Poland has completed the construction of a fence on the border with Belarus, the Polish Border Service has said.

"On January 25, the construction of a physical barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border began. Today, the work is being completed: five months of intensive work, control and acceptance (of completed works – ed.) was carried out by construction inspectors, and border guards. 186.25 km, 49 tons of steel," Ukrinform reports, quoting the Border Service.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski visited the border, where they checked the readiness of the barrier.

As Morawiecki stressed during a media briefing, the so-called migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border was the "first chord" of the war that Russia subsequently launched against Ukraine. According to him, due to the fact that Poland has prudently built a fence on the border with Belarus, Warsaw can now concentrate on the main thing: to help preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

In turn, Kaminski said that from the perspective of the events of recent months, it is clearly clear that the scenario of illegal migration, which began in the middle of last year on the Polish-Belarusian border, was "an element of the plan to destabilise the situation in the entire region".

It is expected that the installation of electronic surveillance and control systems on the "wall" will continue until mid-September.

As Ukrinform reported, the barrier with a height of 5 metres will stretch for 186 kilometres. The total cost of the project, together with technical equipment, will reach 1.6 billion zlotys - about $ 400 million. The work is planned to be completed by June 30 this year.

As noted, the "wall" on the border will have 24 holes for large animals, 140 holes for small animals, as well as culverts.

From July 1, the Polish government will not extend restrictions on the stay of unauthorised persons near the border with Belarus.

According to Polish border guards, since the beginning of this year, about 6,000 migrants have tried to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border.