Lithuania resumes putting up razor wire along border with Belarus

VILNIUS – Lithuanian troops resumed on Thursday putting up concertina razor wire along the border with Belarus. 

Lithuania currently has enough concertina to cover a 20-kilometer section, Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told reporters. 

The work is now being done by troops, but the authorities are planning to bring in road builders and private sector brigades, too, according to the minister. 

Bilotaite said Lithuania expects to receive additional 100 kilometers of concertina from Estonia in a month, with another 100 kilometers expected to come from Ukraine. 

"We expect to have that major procurement, which covers the purchase of the remaining concertina, and installation components and work, in the near future," she told reporters. 

It was reported earlier that around 5 kilometers of concertina had been used for border protection purposes so far. Since several layers of wire are being put up, a border stretch of about 1.5 kilometers was fenced off near Druskininkai.

Bilotaite would not say how many kilometers of the border have been fenced so far.  

"This is sensitive information that is used by our unfriendly neighbor," she told reporters on Thursday. 

The putting up of the concertina barrier has stalled for some time due to public procurement procedures and a lack of certain elements for laying razor wire received from Estonia.