Polish Barrier Wall

From DW:

“Poland to build wall on border with Russia's Kaliningrad”

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said construction of a temporary barrier along the Polish-Russian border was due to begin on Wednesday. The 2.5-meter (8-foot) high and 3-meter deep barrier will be built along the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, said Blaszczak. Work on the barrier is due to be completed by the end of 2023.

Why is Poland building a fence along the Kaliningrad border? With tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Polish authorities have suspected that Moscow plans to facilitate illegal border crossings by Asian and African migrants into the EU through Kaliningrad. Blaszczak said he ordered the measure to strengthen Poland's security "by sealing this border" after a recent decision by Russia's aviation authority to launch flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad. According to the Polish Border Guard, there were no illegal entries from Kaliningrad into Poland in October. "The Polish-Russian border is stable and calm. There has been no illegal crossing of the border," Anna Michalska, a Border Guard spokesperson, said. "We are not only there in times of peace. We are prepared for various crisis situations and after what happened on the Polish-Belarusian border we are even more prepared for everything, for all of the darkest scenarios," she added.

What happened on the Poland-Belarus border last year? Poland's defense minister said the Kaliningrad barrier would be similar to what Warsaw built along the Polish-Belarusian border after a major standoff with Minsk last year.  Thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants were trapped on Belarusian borders as they sought to cross into EU territories.  The EU and its member Poland accused Minsk, a close Russia ally, of using the migrants as part of a "hybrid warfare" on the bloc in a bid to destabilize it.  Rights groups accused Polish border guards of forcibly pushing migrants and asylum-seekers back into Belarus. According to Doctors without Borders (MSF), at least 21 migrants died.  The barrier along the Belarusian border was completed in June.

^ This isn’t surprising. Many other countries are doing the same along their border with Russia. Estonia in 2018; Ukraine in 2015; Norway in 2016; Finland in 2022; Latvia in 2022 and Lithuania in 2017.

Border Barriers have become popular in recent years (especially throughout Europe – which once criticized the US for our Border Barrier with Mexico.) There were/are even some Barriers placed from one EU Member Country to another EU Member Country which would be the same thing as placing a Border Barrier between New York and New Jersey, between Scotland and England, between Ontario and Quebec, etc.

Here are the current Border Barriers:

Argentina-Paraguay (built by Argentina in 2014)

Austria (EU)-Italy (EU) (built by Austria in 2015)

Austria (EU)-Slovenia (EU) (built by Austria in 2015)

Belize-Guatemala (being built by Belize)

Botswana-Zimbabwe (built by Botswana in 2003)

Brunei-Malaysia (built by Brunei in 2005)

Bulgaria (EU)- Turkey (built by Bulgaria in 2014)

UK-  Calais, France (EU) (built by both France and the UK in 2016)

Ceuta, Spain (EU) – Morocco (built by Spain in 2001)

Costa Rica-Nicaragua (being built by Costa Rica)

Cyprus (EU) -Northern Cyprus (built by Cyprus and the United Nations in 1964)

China-North Korea (built by China in 2011)

Denmark (EU) – Germany (EU) (built by Denmark in 2019)

Dominican Republic – Haiti (being built by the Dominican Republic)

Egypt – Gaza Strip (built by Egypt in 1979)

Estonia-Russia (built by Estonia in 2018)

Finland (EU)-Russia (built by Finland in 2022)

Greece (EU) – Turkey (built by Greece in 2012)

North Macedonia – Greece (EU) (built by North Macedonia in 2015)

Malaysia-Thailand (being built by Thailand)

Melilla, Spain (EU)-Morocco (built by Spain in 1998)

Hungary (EU)-Serbia (built by Hungary in 2015)

Hungary (EU)-Croatia (EU) Built by Hungary in 2015)

India-Bangladesh (being built by India)

India-Myanmar (being built by India)

India-Nepal (being built by India)

India-Pakistan (built by India in India in 2014)

Iran-Pakistan (being built by Iran)

Israel-West Bank (built by Israel in 2000)

Israel-Egypt (built by Israel in 2013)

Israel-Lebanon (built by Israel in 2018)

Israel-Gaza Strip (built by Israel in 1994)

Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan (built by Kazakhstan in 2006)

South Korea-North Korea (built by the United Nations in 1953)

South Africa-Mozambique (built by South Africa in 1975)

South Africa-Zimbabwe (built by South Africa in 2000s)

Kuwait-Iraq (built by Kuwait in 1991)

Latvia (EU) – Russia (built by Latvia in 2022)

Libya-Tunisia (being built by Tunisia)

Lithuania (EU) – Kaliningrad, Russia (built by Lithuania in 2017)

Morocco-Western Sahara (built by Morocco in 1980)

Norway-Russia (built by Norway in 2016)

Pakistan-Afghanistan (being built by Pakistan)

Poland (EU)-Belarus (built by Poland in 2022)

Saudi Arabia-Yemen (built by Saudi Arabia in 2004)

Saudi Arabia-Iraq (built by Saudi Arabia in 2014)

Slovenia (EU)-Croatia (EU) (built by Slovenia in 2016)

Serbia-North Macedonia (built by Serbia in 2020)

Turkey-Syria (built by Turkey in 2018)

Turkey-Iran (built by Turkey in 2018)

Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan (built by Turkmenistan in 2001)

Ukraine-Russia (built by Ukraine in 2015)

United Arab Emirates-Oman (built by United Arab Emirates in 2018)

United States-Mexico (built by the United States in first:1909, current: 1993)

Uzbekistan-Afghanistan (built by Uzbekistan in 2001)

Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan (built by Uzbekistan in 1999)

Hong Kong-China (built by British in 1951)

Gibraltar, UK – Spain (EU) (built by the UK in 1909

United States-Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (built by both the United States and Cuba in 1960)

Ethiopia-Eritrea (built by both Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998) ^

https://www.dw.com/en/poland-to-build-wall-on-border-with-russias-kaliningrad/a-63621942