By Olha Chepil | 2025-08-07

Along Poland's border with Belarus, cameras scan the riverbanks, motion sensors lie buried in the soil, and soldiers walk patrols alongside steel fencing.

This electronic barrier, now stretching across the entire frontier, is the linchpin of a multibillion-zloty effort to keep the European Union (EU)'s eastern edge secure from what Warsaw calls "hybrid threats" from Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The barrier's land and river sections cost almost 700 million PLN (about €163.8 million), with the EU assuming most of the expense. Recent upgrades were fully EU funded. Poland pays operational costs, including maintaining 11,000 troops along the frontier. So far the country has borne most of the project's 2.5-billion PLN (€585 million) price tag.

"We have finished building the electronic barrier along the entire border, including the river segments," Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said July 21 during a joint news conference with German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. "The combination of military backing and modern infrastructure" has helped stop 97% to 98% of attempted illegal crossings, he said.

His remarks followed the July 18 Ministerial Summit on Migration in Zugspitze, Germany, where interior ministers from Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark and France agreed to tighten migration policies and pursue joint actions against illegal migration.

"We signed a declaration that states clearly that we are committed to combating illegal migration, which is a serious problem for Poland, Germany and other EU countries," Siemoniak said.

Migration as instrument of hybrid war

Poland began building its border barrier after Belarus triggered a migration crisis on the EU's eastern flank in 2021. Analysts say Moscow backed Minsk's actions.

"Since late 2021, the Putin and Lukashenka regimes have been staging a migration crisis. Now they've switched tactics: Migrants are no longer flying directly into Belarus but into Russia," said Vladimir Zhigar, spokesperson for BelPol, an organization of former Belarusian security officials opposing the Lukashenka regime.

Polish border guards July 21 posted on X that they had documented 390 illegal entry attempts along the Belarusian border between July 18 and 20.

"Assigned members of the Belarusian intelligence services, the border special forces, lead migrants to the border, show them where to go and start to storm the border. Most recently, they orchestrated a plan to dig under a fence," Zhyhar told Kontur.

Sergei Bulba, director of the NGO Belarus 2.0: Robimo Razom (Let's Work Together), described migration as one element of Russia's broader hybrid war against the EU.

"The three main components of this war are illegal migration, cybersecurity and drones that fly into Lithuanian territory," he told Kontur.

European governments recognize that the migration surge is deliberate. Germany and Poland now conduct frequent checks at their shared border -- measures rarely seen in the past.

Migrants often pay up to €10,000 for the journey to Europe, lured by promises of supposedly lavish unemployment benefits, Bulba said.

Russia and Belarus are exploiting Europe's appeal as part of a longer-term strategy, he said.

"They're planting a time bomb for Europe," he said.

Bulba noted Lukashenka's recent announcement to import 150,000 "young specialists" from Pakistan, saying the plan could provide cover for sending trained militants into the EU.

A 21st-century electronic wall

In 2022, Poland erected a 186km-long steel barrier topped with barbed wire along its land border with Belarus, marking the first phase of a multilayered border protection system. Standing 5.5 meters tall, the wall is now reinforced by an electronic barrier that spans the entire frontier, equipped with cameras, motion sensors and a 24-hour alarm system.

"These are technological solutions -- specifically, video surveillance and alarm systems -- so that virtually every section of the border, every meter of it, is monitored by surveillance system operators," Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, told Kontur.

The system includes access roads, mesh fencing, obstacles and automated infrastructure to support rapid response.

"First and foremost, proper access roads to the border must be built so that border guard response teams can reach the line quickly and efficiently," Demchenko said.

Europe's digital fortress

The Poland-Belarus electronic barrier is part of a broader European strategy to strengthen the EU's external borders, analysts say. Poland joins Lithuania, Latvia and Finland in deploying advanced technology to counter regional threats.

"This is about the engineering and technological fortification of the border. Each country equips its borders based on the challenges we face from Russia," Demchenko said.

Lithuania completed a high-tech barrier with alarms and video surveillance in 2022. Latvia is upgrading its border with automated monitoring posts and expanded patrols. Finland, responding to heightened tensions with Russia, is installing artificial-intelligence-equipped cameras along its eastern frontier.

"Some [countries] are erecting higher fences to deter crossings. The engineering includes feeder roads [for fast military access] and various barrier obstacles," Demchenko said.

Analysts see these efforts as part of a growing push toward a unified digital shield, one that combines physical barriers, surveillance systems and coordinated military and border operations across the EU.