Poland finished installing fence on border with Belarus
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The Polish Border Guard Service says the country has completed the installation of the fence it has been working on the borders with Belarus.
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The electronic monitoring system is seen at the border wall in Nomiki, Poland, November 2022 (AP)
Poland completed the installation of the 206-kilometer fence on the border with Belarus, which Warsaw accuses of being behind the migrant crisis that has hit the country, the Polish Border Guard Service announced Tuesday.
"Today the official acceptance of the construction works related to the installation of the electronic barrier on the border between Poland and Belarus was completed," the border guard said on Twitter.
The electronic system, Warsaw added, works along the entire length of the Polish-Belarusian border.
Dziś zakończył się formalny odbiór prac budowlanych związanych z instalacją #barieraelektroniczna na granicy 🇵🇱🇧🇾
— Straż Graniczna (@Straz_Graniczna) June 15, 2023
System działa na całej długości tj.206 km💪
Od roku na granicy stoi bariera fizyczna. To ważne elementy w systemie ochrony granicy.
❗️Najważniejsi #funkcjonariuszeSG pic.twitter.com/oTVQcwdJ0C
This comes a year after Poland installed a five-meter-tall fence on the border in order to prevent immigrants from coming into the country. Poland's border guards announced in January 2022 the start of construction of a 186-kilometer (115-mile) fence at the border with Belarus after thousands of migrants from the Middle East streamed to the border in an attempt to cross into the European Union.
2021 saw tens of thousands of migrants crowding at the border between Belarus and Poland in a bid to enter the European Union, prompting the Polish authorities to tighten border controls and deploy troops in the area.
The migrant crisis stocked major tensions between Poland and Belarus.
Poland confronted the waves of migrants by sending thousands of soldiers in addition to imposing a state of emergency on its borders. Authorities have worked to establish a barbed wire fence, an action that has exposed the Warsaw government to sharp criticism for its toughness in dealing with the crisis.
At its peak, Poland deployed about 15,000 soldiers along the border with Belarus, in addition to police and border guards, and imposed a state of emergency in the region.
Moreover, the EU accused Belarus of encouraging thousands of people fleeing war-torn parts of the world to try to cross its borders and has threatened to impose new sanctions on Minsk and airlines that transport migrants.
Check out: The Polish-Belarusian Border Crisis
Poland eventually closed its borders with Belarus, an action that was met by condemnation from Minsk.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned Poland's charge d'affaires to condemn Warsaw's decision to close one of its three existing border crossings with Belarus as "unilateral" and "inhumane".
"All responsibility for the deterioration of the conditions for the operations of their carriers lies with the initiator of the restrictive measures, that is the current government of Poland," a Belarusian Foreign Ministry statement said.
