Poland mulls barrier on Kaliningrad border, says top official

FILE PHOTO: A view of a vehicle next to a fence built by Polish soldiers on the border between Poland and Belarus near the village of Nomiki, Poland August 26, 2021. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

Poland may have to build a barrier on its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a top Polish official said on Tuesday, as Warsaw suspects Russia plans to help African and Asian migrants cross over in the coming week.

Poland accuses Russia and its ally Belarus of using migrants as part of a "hybrid warfare" campaign to destabilise Europe. With tensions running high due to the war in Ukraine, Poland fears a repeat of the 2021 crisis when thousands of African and Middle-Eastern migrants tried to cross the Belarus border.

At that time, Minsk denied engineering the situation by flying in people seeking to enter the European Union, instead blaming Warsaw and Brussels for a humanitarian crisis that led to the deaths of several migrants in forests along the border.

General view of Suwalki Lake District area is seen at the Suwalki Gap area, the land corridor on the shared border between Lithuania, Poland and Russia Flanked by Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad to the north-west and its ally Belarus to the south-east, the strip of land that runs for only 104 kilometres (65 miles) is the sole land connection between the Baltic states and NATO's European members. The Suwalki Gap is seen as vulnerable as an invasion would cut off the Baltics from the rest of the alliance, near Gulbieniszki, Poland October 17, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

Krzysztof Sobolewski, general secretary of the ruling Law and Justice party, told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 1 that Poland was considering building a barrier on the frontier with Russia's Kaliningrad, similar to the one it has constructed on the Belarus border.

"We will have to strengthen our forces on this section of the border and also consider ... building similar border fortifications to those we now have on the Polish-Belarusian section," he said.

Russian media has reported that Kaliningrad has opened its skies to flights from the Middle East and Asia in a bid to attract more airlines and tourists.

Border fence with Russia is seen at the Suwalki Gap area, the land corridor on the shared border between Lithuania, Poland and Russia Flanked by Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad to the north-west and its ally Belarus to the south-east, the strip of land that runs for only 104 kilometres (65 miles) is the sole land connection between the Baltic states and NATO's European members. The Suwalki Gap is seen as vulnerable as an invasion would cut off the Baltics from the rest of the alliance, at the triple border near Bolcie, PolandOctober 17, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Poland built a 5.5 metre (18 feet) tall steel barrier, equipped with motion sensors and cameras, stretching for about 187 km (116 miles) on the Belarus border.

Poland had previously said the border guard had received funds to build an "electronic barrier" of sensors and cameras on the Kaliningrad border.

On Tuesday a spokesperson for the Polish Border Guard told state-run news agency PAP that it would choose a firm to build the electronic barrier by the end of November and that the system would be built over the first three quarters of next year along around two hundred kilometres of border.

Sobolewski told Reuters by text message that more migrants from Kaliningrad could try to cross into Poland "in the coming weeks".

Since Feb. 24, 7.26 million Ukrainians have entered Poland, according to the Polish Border Guard.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing that Russia would not interfere with any decision regarding barriers.

"History proves the stupidity of decisions to build walls every time, because over the years or decades, all walls fall," he said.

Sobolewski also said there were signs of larger groups of migrants appearing at the Belarus border.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Robert Birsel and Josie Kao)