Wednesday

29th Mar 2023

Watchtowers on Poland-Russia border 'not linked' to Ukraine conflict

  • Kaliningrad is one of Russia's poorest regions (Photo: Christoph)

Poland says its plan to build watchtowers on its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is not linked to the Ukraine crisis.

Joanna Rokicka, a spokeswoman for the Polish Border Guard, told EUobserver on Tuesday (7 April) that the scheme, which is part-funded by the European Commission, was agreed “quite some time ago, before the events in Ukraine”.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“We are building the towers purely for migration-control purposes. It’s not designed to prevent any situation linked to the current crisis in Ukraine”.

A spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry, who asked to remain anonymous, added: “Small-border traffic between Poland and Kaliningrad is important, with almost 7 million Polish and Russian crossings over the green line each year”.

“This is designed to prevent illegal crossings and it’s not linked to the current situation in Ukraine”.

The six towers are to be erected on the Polish side of the 200km-long border and to begin work in June.

The 35-metre to 50-metre high structures are to be highly visible and to be mounted with surveillance equipment that will transmit information around the clock to border guard stations in Poland's Warminski-Mazurski district.

They will cost €3.5 million.

But 75 percent of the money comes from the External Borders Fund, a European Commission instrument worth €1.8 billion over the past seven years. The fund is designed to help secure the EU’s passport-free Schengen Area, which Poland joined in 2007.

Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for Frontex, the EU’s Warsaw-based border control agency, said Frontex is not involved because it doesn’t pay for infrastructure.

She added that: “at the moment, we don’t see a significant increase in irregular migration flows along the Kaliningrad border”.

The high number of Poland-Kaliningrad crossings comes after Poland and Russia, in 2012, signed a treaty on visa-free travel covering the exclave, which is home to 950,000 people, and two districts in northern Poland.

Heightened tension in the region has seen Russia install batteries of surface-to-surface “Iskander” missiles in Kaliningrad, which are capable of hitting Warsaw.

It has also seen Poland mobilise thousands of reservists and a sharp increase in Russian and Nato military drills.

Russia supplies Kaliningrad primarily via Lithuania.

But Andrius Kubilius, Lithuania’s former prime minister, last month told Newsweek magazine the transit traffic could be halted if the Ukraine crisis escalates beyond Ukrainian borders.

“If the Russians want a pretext to launch a new invasion, the transit to Kaliningrad would be a useful excuse”, he said.

“They have enough fantasy to try something different than Crimea”, he added, alluding to concern that Russia could stage provocations in the Baltic region on the model of its covert invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula last year.

Russia 'pouring' arms into Ukraine

Two days after EU leaders tied Russia sanctions to respect of a ceasefire pact, Nato and the US said Russia is “pouring” arms into Ukraine.

Germany and Poland celebrate close ties

Polish and German leaders on Monday celebrated close ties in the context of WWII memorials and the death of Polish statesman Wladyslaw Bartoszewski.

Nordic pact heightens tension with Russia

The Kremlin says a new Nordic defence pact is “directed against Russia” and amounts to a “confrontational approach” on the Ukraine crisis.

Column

What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking

Perhaps even more surprising to the West was the fact that the Iran-Saudi Arabia deal was not brokered by the United States, or the European Union, but by the People's Republic of China. Since when was China mediating peace agreements?

Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

From the perspective of international relations, the EU is a rare bird indeed. Theoretically speaking it cannot even exist. The charter of the United Nations, which underlies the current system of global governance, distinguishes between states and organisations of states.

Latest News

  1. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  2. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  3. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking
  4. Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad
  5. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  6. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  7. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict
  8. Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  6. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us