Latvia's border fence with Belarus is almost finished
Latvia shares a 172-kilometre border with its close Russian ally Belarus. Just like the rulers in Moscow, Belarus is also deliberately smuggling migrants there in order to put political pressure on the EU. Most of them want to go to Germany - a well-monitored fence is supposed to stop them.
According to the border guard of the Baltic EU and NATO country, the fence on Latvia's border with neighboring Belarus will soon be completed. "We hope that we will be able to complete the entire fence on the land border with Belarus by the end of this year," said border guard officer Vladimirs Sersts during a visit to the border near Silene in south-eastern Latvia. Shortly before Christmas, almost all the work to build the physical barrier was completed. The construction of further infrastructure will then begin: The Latvian Border Guard is planning new paths along the fence, surveillance cameras and sensors.
Latvia has a border with Russia's close ally Belarus, which is around 172 kilometers long and forms part of the EU's external border. The situation is tense because migrants are trying to enter the Baltic state from crisis areas via Belarus, which is tolerated or even deliberately encouraged by the Belarusian authorities in order to create an instrument of political pressure: According to its own figures, Latvia has prevented more than 13,000 migrants coming from Belarus from crossing the EU border this year alone. Last year, the figure was just under 5300 people. Finland, which is located further north and borders directly on Russia, has been reporting the same problems for several weeks.
Unlike in Lithuania or Poland, Latvia does not yet have a continuous fence along the border with its authoritarian neighbor, which runs partly through bodies of water. Instead, multi-layered rolls of barbed wire have been laid out in places, which are comparatively easy to cross. In order to free up more personnel and capacity to monitor the border, the government in Riga closed one of the two border crossings with Belarus, the Silene checkpoint, in September. The military and police are also currently helping to guard the border.
Destination country? Predominantly Germany
Despite the border soon to be fortified with a fence, Sersts expects further illegal crossing attempts, the number of which has recently decreased significantly due to the winter weather. "The fence is not a stone wall," emphasizes the border guard. Of course, it can be overcome, and finished sections are already being damaged or cut open. "But the fence will give us time to react".
Another "big problem" are smugglers who help migrants on the Latvian side of the border to move on. "Many brokers try to get easy money and transport these people illegally to Europe," says Sersts. The destination country is predominantly Germany. Some migrants even believe that they are already at the border to Germany and are completely surprised because the Belarusian side has misinformed them. "They don't even know what Latvia is or where it is."
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Source: www.ntv.de
