National Security Issue: Latvia Will Continue Strengthening the Border with Russia and Belarus

In 2024, Latvia needs to continue strengthening its eastern border to ensure national security. 

This was stated by President of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics, Delfi reports.

According to the Latvian president, the eastern border should also be strengthened in terms of building up military infrastructure, as the fence alone will not protect against a serious military threat. 

"The fence is designed to prevent a hybrid threat," Rinkevics said.

He added that this year it is necessary to work on implementing a civil defence system.

Last year, 112 kilometres of independent fencing on dry sections of the border strip were built on the Latvian-Belarusian border by 31 December, as planned for this year.

This year's main goal is to improve the infrastructure along the fence and complete the design of sections along public water bodies, where a 33.5 km patrol lane will be built. At these stages, deforestation has already begun on state-owned land plots. This allows us to start building the fence at an accelerated pace. The fence is expected to be completed by July this year.

Earlier, the Baltic States agreed on unified EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus. In December, the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia signed a joint declaration on the unified regional implementation of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus. The aim is to reduce the ability of these countries to evade the restrictions imposed by the EU.

The declaration emphasizes that closing loopholes and ensuring the effective implementation of EU sanctions is crucial to increasing their effectiveness and undermining Russia's ability to continue its aggressive war against Ukraine. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia also note that, given the unique geographical location of the Baltic States, an immediate transition to a regional approach to sanctions implementation is necessary, while supporting pan-European sanctions against Russia.

The Baltic Three have committed themselves to ensuring unified customs control and information exchange, with the relevant authorities of these countries expected to start implementing the regional approach no later than 31 January 2024.