TALLINN: Estonia on Thursday said it would build a fence along its eastern border with Russia to safeguard its security and to protect the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone.

Interior ministry spokesman Toomas Viks said construction would begin in 2018.

“The aim of the construction is to cover the land border with 100 per cent, around-the-clock technical surveillance to create ideal conditions for border guarding and to ensure the security of Estonia and the Schengen area,” he said.

The announcement comes as regional tensions are running high over the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

The Baltic states have been rattled by Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting Kiev’s forces since April 2014.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

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