Poland will tighten up security on its border with Russia’s Kalininigrad region as it increasingly sees Russia as an unstable neighbor.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Bartosz Grodecki told the Polish Press Agency on Thursday that Poland’s Border Authority was engaged in a project of introducing an effective and modern system of perimeter security to protect Poland’s border with the Kaliningrad region. He referred to Russia as an “unstable neighbor.”
Grodecki compared Poland’s stance on the border with Kaliningrad to its stance on the Belarusian border, which is why Poland is tightening border security with more secure fencing, more advanced electronic surveillance, and “serious resources.”
The minister also said that Russia was a dangerously volatile state committing acts of terror against its neighbors, which necessitates that Poland has a secure border. Poland must be prepared “for certain activities” that may come from the Russian side.
Asked about the effectiveness of the fortification of the Polish-Belarus border, Grodecki said that they had done their job by reducing the flow of illegal migration into the EU.
The number of attempts at illegal crossings had fallen from 40,000 last year to 8,000 this year. In the absence of cooperation from Belarus, these fortifications were essential, he said.
However, the Polish deputy minister of the interior acknowledged that there was a need for a more coherent set of regulations at the EU level to cope with the migration flows.
