Poland orders construction of electric fence along Russia’s Kaliningrad border

A 2.5-metre (8ft) high and 3-metre deep barrier will run along the 210-kilometre (130-mile) border

A Lithuanian border fence and marker face a Russian border marker at the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad (Getty Images)

Poland’s defence minister has ordered the immediate construction of a temporary barrier along the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in order that the country “feels safe”.

Mariusz Blaszczak said he had authorised the construction of a wall along the 210km (130-mile) border. A spokesperson for the border guard agency, Konrad Szwed, told the Associated Press that the barrier would consist of an electric fence.

Warsaw suspects that Russia plans to use the border to facilitate the crossing of migrants. Amid current simmering tensions over the war in Ukraine, Mr Blaszczak referred to a crisis triggered last autumn when thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants tried to cross the Belarus border into Poland, some of whom died on the journey.