Poland to fit Russian enclave border with cameras, sensors

Poland announced plans to install thousands of cameras and motion sensors along its border with Russia‘s Kaliningrad enclave to prevent what Warsaw says are illegal migrant crossings orchestrated by Moscow.

Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said the system would join a barbed wire fence being built on the 200-kilometer (124-mile) frontier.

“We will have total surveillance of what is happening at the border,” Kaminski said.

The project is estimated to cost 373 million zlotys ($88 million) and will include 3,000 cameras and motion detectors.

A five-meter-high (16.5 feet) metal barrier with a similar surveillance system is already in place along the Polish border with Russian ally Belarus, which has been accused of allowing migrants to enter the European Union — a charge Minsk denies.

Poland forbids people from getting more than 200 meters (656 feet) from the border.

Despite Poland’s practice of forcing migrants back to Belarus, about 100 banned attempts to cross the border are reported each day, border guards and NGOs say.

Many of those seeking to cross are from the Middle East and Africa.

The so-called pushbacks, and the government’s overall tough anti-migration stance, have drawn condemnation from activists and aid organizations.