Estonian Finance Minister Keith Pentus-Rosimannus announced on Thursday that the government will allocate 22.5 million euros to speed up the construction of concertina wire fences on Estonia's eastern border. The Minister of Finance said at a press conference on Thursday that the allocated funds allow the construction of a concertina razor wire fence to continue on sections of the border on the Narva River, which were not planned in 2019. The barbed wire barrier should be built in about a year.
The Minister of the Interior said that the construction of observation posts on the Narva River is also crucial. “Today, 70 percent of the Narva River is covered with monitoring technologies,” Jaani said, adding that the river will also be patrolled. Jaani said that the design, construction and land acquisition are included in the allocated 22.5 million euros. “These processes take time, but we can start installing video surveillance equipment on the Narva River early next year,” the interior minister said.
The first section of razor wire fences on the eastern border of Estonia has now been built and a tender has been announced for the second stage in the spring of 2021. The length of the first section is 25 km, and the second - 39 km. Now the current government has accelerated this process due to the migration crisis caused by Belarus on its borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
In some sections of the border with Estonia, it is impossible to build a concertina razor wire fence, as it passes through Lake Peipsi and swamps. In total, the length of the Estonian-Russian border is 294 km. Nearly 1,700 reservists were convened for the annual emergency military exercise Okas 2021 in November, who will build a temporary barbed wire fence on Estonia's eastern border over the next week.