Lithuania, Latvia Start Building Border Fence With Belarus

Lithuania has begun building a 508-kilometer fence on its border with Belarus to prevent illegal migrants from entering the EU along the largely unsecured border, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: The Lithuania-Latvia border

Rolls of barbed wire were being laid out in one section of the border near the spa town of Druskininkai, the Lithuanian government announced on Wednesday. Preliminary work was also underway in other sections, it added.

After the installation of the barrier, an approximately 4-meter-high fence reinforced with spiral barbed wire is to be erected as a second deterrent towards the end of the year. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2022 and will cost up to 152 million euros ($176 million).

In neighboring Latvia, work is also underway to build a fence along the country's border with Belarus. As a quick fix, more than 37 kilometers of barbed wire rolls are to be laid out at various sections of the border. According to a report by Latvian radio, 1.7 kilometers have been covered so far.

The governments in Vilnius and Riga accuse Belarus of assisting refugees from war zones to reach the EU's external border and in so doing, create a migration crisis.

Lukashenko warned the EU at the end of May that his country would no longer prevent migrants from traveling on to the EU, in retaliation for tightened Western sanctions on Minsk.

Lithuania, Latvia and Poland alike are all now struggling with an influx of illegal immigrants from the Middle East across their borders. All three countries have now declared a state of emergency on their border.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic