Latvia will use its military to speed up land infrastructure construction on the Latvian-Polish border, with the goal of completing the fence on the border with Russia next year.
The fence will be constructed along 180 kilometres of the 214-kilometre border, with most of the length already deforested. Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa announced plans to complete the Belarus border fence this year and the Russia border fence next year. The closure of two border crossings with Russia, Vientuļi and Pededze, was in response to Moscow’s announcement that the small Vientuļi border crossing would be the only land border crossing Ukrainian citizens could use to enter the EU from Russia. The Ministry of Interior warned that the Russian decision could negatively impact public order and Latvian national security.