Poland to tighten controls on Belarus border as Estonia warns of Russian threat to eastern Europe

Poland and Belarus share a 418km border – and a 186km fence separates the two countries at a cost of more than €350 million.

Transcript

00:00 Dense forests along Poland`s 418 kilometer with Belarus now separated by heavily guarded

00:06 iron fence.

00:08 Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced he would beef up security on this

00:11 border, an operation Baltic countries and Finland plan to support.

00:16 Military control system, we will propose also a rotating camera system to monitor the immigrants`

00:25 movements and of course, we will gather and we gathered already the experiences of the

00:32 border guards and other services from the last two years and of course, we will cooperate

00:40 with the other services of our alliances and this.

00:45 Estonia, like Poland, is a NATO member and makes up part of the military alliances Eastern

00:49 flank against Russia.

00:51 Italian`s ambassador to Poland says Moscow`s intentions should not be underestimated.

00:57 The report of Estonian foreign intelligence, how Russia will probably reconstitute its

01:04 military capabilities in three to four years, it is an important factor, but it also depends

01:09 on our side.

01:10 If we are able to help Ukraine enough so that they will win, that will also change Russia`s

01:16 plans.

01:17 We are Estonia, but Lithuania and Poland, we have assumed this sort of leadership role

01:22 that we have to be the ones who are also trying to inspire the others that they would also

01:30 move with the speed of relevance.

01:33 EU has long accused both Russia and Belarus of pushing illegal migrants across its borders,

01:38 but disinformation about the intentions of NATO members is also a concern.

01:42 Russia will continue to carry out destabilization actions against NATO countries and Eastern

01:48 flanks.

01:49 And they keep repeating that Poland has imperialist inclinations and Poland would like to take

01:54 part in Ukraine or part of Belarus.

01:57 These are actions that convince the public opinion in Russia and Belarus to have more

02:06 army.

02:07 The issue of regulating the situation on the EU-Eastern border seems to be crucial not

02:13 only in terms of migration, but in terms of common security system and response strategy.

02:19 Magdalena Chodovnik for Euronews from Warsaw.

02:22 [SWOOSH]