Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė has sent an official letter to EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson asking for financial support to strengthen Lithuania’s border protection with Russia.
According to a press release issued by the Interior Ministry on Monday, Bilotaitė stressed the urgent need to modernise and update border surveillance systems.
“The cost of this modernisation is estimated at almost 16 million euros, while the required funding is 13.7 million euros,” the ministry said.
In her letter, Bilotaitė expressed the hope that the reserves would be revised urgently and that Lithuania would be able to receive the necessary EU contribution. Upgrading the border surveillance systems is estimated to cost 65 million euros by 2030.
“Today, strengthening the security of Lithuania’s 275-kilometres-long border with Russia is our priority. Much of the border surveillance infrastructure needs to be upgraded to ensure that we are properly informed about the situation at the border and can ensure the security of the EU external borders,” the press release quoted Bilotaitė as saying.
Last October, Lithuania received a 9.3-million-euro EU grant, which allowed the country to upgrade border surveillance systems along the entire border with Belarus.
In her letter, Bilotaitė highlighted the European Commission’s contribution to countering the influx of irregular migrants, orchestrated by the Belarusian regime, which began in 2021.
Since the onset of the so-called “hybrid attack”, the EC has provided Lithuania with around 100 million euros in support to reinforce its border with Belarus.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
