19.9 km of fence to be built on Latvian-Belarusian border by year-end

RIGA - There is a plan to build another 19.9 kilometers of fence on the Latvian-Belarusian border by the end of this year, LETA was told at the Ministry of the Interior.

A supervisory committee for the construction of external border infrastructure met last Friday, November 3, to discuss progress on the construction of border infrastructure.

At the meeting of the supervisory committee, representatives of Valsts Nekustamie Ipasumi (VNI; State Properties) company, which is coordinating the development of the border infrastructure, informed about progress on the development of infrastructure on Latvia's border with Belarus and Russia. 

According to VNI, 92.1 kilometers of the fence on the Latvian-Belarusian border, which is 82 percent of the planned 112 kilometers, had been completed by November 3. The plan is to complete the construction of the fence along the 112 kilometers of the border by the end of the year, and to build another 30 kilometers of fencing in sections along public water bodies, which are a natural obstacle, in 2024. 

The construction of the fence on the country's external land border is scheduled to be completed in 2024, while the whole infrastructure of Latvia's eastern border is scheduled for competition in 2025, so that a modern and efficient border protection infrastructure is in place along the entire eastern border.

So far this year, border guards have prevented attempts by 13,119 people to illegally enter Latvia from Belarus, while 406 people have been allowed into Latvia on humanitarian grounds.